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RAMPHASTOS CITREOL^MUS. GvuZSL. 
-"' rorv-breasteel Toucan.. 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE 
TROPICS 

A RECORD OF AN ORNITHOLOGICAL VISIT 

TO THE 

UNITED STATES OF COLOMBIA, SOUTH AMERICA 

AND TO THE ISLAND OF CURASAO 

WEST INDIES 

IN THE YEAR 18Q2 



BY 

WIRT ROBINSON 

SECOND LIEUTENANT, FOURTH U. S. ARTILLERY 




CAMBRIDGE 

printrD at tfje ftiticrsttic ^rcss 

1S95 



Copyright, 1S95, 
By WIRT ROBINSON. 

All riahts reserved. 



The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. 
Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co. 



05 






PREFACE. 



Prefaces are written for various purposes. Sometimes they are 
introductory, — they explain the raison d'etre of the book, they 
define its scope, and perhaps outline the treatment of the subject ; 
at other times they are self-laudatory, and impress upon the reader 
that the work fills a long-felt want, and that its statements are 
much more accurate than those of any other writer ; again, in an 
humble tone they are apologetic, beseeching that the work be not 
harshly criticised. Should I make the last request in regard to the 
following work, I am afraid that I would be but calling attention 
to its failings. I am reminded of the story of the little boy who, 
visiting an art gallery where there was a statue bearing the placard, 
" Do not touch with canes or umbrellas," took out his pencil and 
added the words, " take a axe." 

In a Preface it is proper and usual to return thanks to the vari- 
ous persons who have assisted the writer in the preparation of his 
work, and I should feel that I had been negligent in this respect 
did I fail to acknowledge the help that the officials of our National 
Museum have with o-reat kindness extended to me. 

It would be manifestly absurd should I attempt to criticise the 
countries that I visited, seeing what a short time I spent in them. 
My remarks must therefore be taken simply as observations of 
individual occurrences, not necessarily universal. I will say that 



iv PREFACE. 

throughout Colombia I met with a courteous treatment that we 
might sometimes look for in vain in many portions of our own 
country. 

If I have dwelt too much on birds, remember that the study of 
birds is my hobby, that I went to the tropics for the purpose of 
observing them, and I am therefore inclined to give more promi- 
nence to them than to other objects. In my descriptions of them 
I have endeavored to give an idea of their approximate size by 
comparing them to some of our well-known birds. I have done 
this because I have often found that, from never having seen a 
specimen, I have had erroneous ideas of the size of some birds. 
Thus, I had thought from the figures that the larger hornbills 
were about the size of our crow, and, making an error in the oppo- 
site direction, I supposed that a stormy petrel was the size of a gull. 

The illustrations, with a few exceptions which are noticed in the 
text, have been drawn expressly for this work or reproduced from 
my photographs. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Voyage 1 

II. The Island of Curacao 12 

III. Barranquilla 30 

IV. The Magdalena River 49 

V. The Mule Road and Guaduas 80 

VI. Back to Barranquilla .......... 115 

VII. Curacao again 136 

VIII. Results of the Trip 150 

IX. A Few Suggestions 168 

Appendix. 

List of Works on Colombia . . . . . . . . . 177 

Maps 190 

Colombian Zoology ............ 191 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 



Citron- Breasted Toucan (Colored Plate) Frontispiece 

Portrait 1 

Portrait 2 

Portrait .3 

" Our Baggage " 4 

Map showing Routes to Colombia 5 

The Venezuela 6 

" Our Pilot was taken off by his Boat " 8 

Portuguese Man-o'-War . 9 

Yellow-Billed Tropic Bird ........... 11 

Map of Island of Curacao 12 

Vessel passing between Forts at Narrow Entrance of Harbor of Curacao 13 

Santa Ana Harbor (Map) 14 

Dutch Soldier at Curacao 15 

Drawbridge across the Harbor at Curacao . . . . . . .17 

Dwellings at Curacao 18 

Narrow Street in Curacao 19 

Curacao Land Shell 22 

Chlorostilbon splendidus . 23 

" Cactus . . . Ten, Fifteen, and even Twenty Feet in Height " . . 24 

Main Street, Curacao . .25 

From Curacao to Puerto Colombia (Map) 26, 27 

The Southern Cross of the Geographies and the True Southern Cross . 27 

Map of the Republic of Colombia 28 

Puerto Colombia . . .31 

Hotel Victoria and American Consulate, Barranquilla . . . . 33 
Barranquilla from the Marsh 35 



viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Market Court, Barranquilla 37 

dug-outs along the market front 38 

The Savalo or Tarpon 39 

Coffee Sellers, Barranquilla 40 

Grooved-Bill Ani 42 

Basilicus americanus 46 

Turkey-Buzzard 47 

The Steamer Enrique 51 

Laundry at Barranquilla 52 

The Magdalena Valley to Honda (Map) ....... 53 

Cocoa Palms along the Magdalena 54 

Stop at Banco 55 

Capybara . ........ 57 

Magangue from the River 59 

Amazilia fuscicaudata 60 

Cyanophaia goudoti ■ 60 

Cathedral at Banco 62 

Colombian Screamer 63 

Glaucis hirsuta - . 65 

" Oro Pendola " 66 

Blue-Rumped Parrakeet (Colored Plate) 66 

Looking down the Magdalena from Banco 71 

polyerata amabilis 72 

Iguana tuberculata . . . . • . . . • • • .73 

A Bongo or Champ an on the Magdalena . 75 

Citron-Breasted Toucan .76 

Collared Aracari 78 

Land Shell from near Yeguas • . ' . 80 

The Diamond Rattler 81 

From Honda to Yeguas (Map) s - 

Ruins of Bridge over the Guali destroyed by Earthquake ... 84 

Swing Ferry at Arranca Plumas 8 ^> 

Pack-Mule with Trunks and Sleeping-Mats ...... 87 

Adjusting Load on Pack-Mule . 88 

Portion of Paved Road to Bogota. 90 

Road to Bogota -91 

On the Road to Guaduas 93 

"A Deep and Crooked Gorge" • • • .94 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. ix 

Roadside Inn near Guaduas .... 





95 

Plaza and Cathedral at Guaduas . 



Our Hotel at Guaduas, from the Plaza .... 97 

Goitre „o 

Lampornis violicauda . 1 0n 

White-Eared Partridge (Colored Plate) 100 

Market in Plaza at Guaduas . . -mo 

A Pack-Ox at Guaduas -,q 4 

HyPUROPTILA BUFFONI jq~ 

DAMOPHILA JULIA -.q- 

Tired out jq~ 

PfLETHORNIS SUPERCILIOSUS jqo 

CHRYSOLAMPIS MOSCHITUS iqq 

ACESTRURA MULSANTI iqo 

Suaba or Leaf-Carrying Ant -jiq 

Jaguar Skull -.-.-. 

Jaguar llt> 

Religious Procession at Guaduas ..... jiq 
"Alice . . . dismounted only for the Bad Portion above Consuelo " . 115 

Fork-Tailed Flycatcher -.-.^ 

Grand Pootoo 1QO 

King Vulture V)r 

Cathedral at Barranquilla -, 07 

Nine-Banded Armadillo 1Q c, 

Black Jacana 1 „ 1 

Murine Opossum .09 

The Manati 104 

Wattle Hut, Curacao ....... 100 

Mountain at Curacao -m 

Curacao Oriole (Colored Plate) 142 

Aborigines of Curacao 14 o 

Donkey Team, Curacao 14 4 

Breakwater and Harbor of La Guayra .... 145 

Red Snapper -. .r. 

Section of Cup ....... 17A 

Red-Tailed Hawk (Living Bird) 17 o 

Green Heron (Mounted Skin) ...... 173 

White Perch 174 



x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Sea Bass 174 

Scqlpin . 175 

Sculpin 175 

Lobster ........ 176 

Tailpiece . 176 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE VOYAGE. 



I have always 
been fond of Nat- 
ural History in gen- 
eral, but especially 
of the study of 
birds, and at every 
new place that I 
have visited I have 
made it a point to 
look up the birds of 
the neighborhood 
on every opportu- 
nity, to study their 
habits and to ac- 
quaint myself with 
them as thoroughly 
as possible. As a 
result of this, it hap- 
pens that I have 
seen a large per- 
centage of our com- 
moner birds of the 
Atlantic seaboard, and that, from familiarity with plates, drawings, 
and descriptions, I can recognize at once nearly every new one that 
I meet. 




2 .1 FLYING Tliir TO THE TMOPICS. 

In the tall of L891 I was stationed at the U.S. Military Academy, 
Wesi Point, New York. Mv duties as instructor kepi me occupied 
throughout the greater pan of the week, but on Saturday after- 
noons I had a few hours which I usually devoted to rambling through 

the forests in the rear 
of the government 
reservation, on the 
Lookout tor whatever 
birds 1 might meet. 

One such afternoon 
m November, I had 
returned from a long 
tramp over vow rag- 
ged ground with a 
total of three species 
of birds observed : 
a pair of crows, a 
downy woodpecker, 
ami a little band o\' 
st\ tomtits, — very 
meagre results for tho 
seven or eight miles 
that 1 had gone over ; 
and I was complaining 
about tt to my wife. 
In tho course of our 
conversation, 1 was 
lod on to remark upon what 1 considered must bo tho enjoyment of 
a naturalist who finds himself for tho first tune in tho tropics, 
surrounded by tho most Luxuriant vegetation : where every object 
would be o( tho deepest interest to him; where every bird, annual. 
and insect that ho should see would ho now to him. and conse- 
quently afford him the same pleasure as if ho had discovered tt 
himself. Imagine his delight when, after having tired at some hud 




THE VOYAGE. 



moving among the thick branches of a palm, he should pick up a 
trogon or humming-bird, brilliant with the colors of the most beau- 
tiful gems. At this point my wife said, " Well, why don't we go to 
the tropics some time?" and when we came to talk the matter over, 
there was really no unanswerable objection against our going" ; and 
so from that time we began to make plans for our trip. 

My first act was to write to my brother Cabell, tell him of our 
project, and ask him to join us, to which he immediately replied 
that he would. 

In selecting the point to be visited, there were a number of con- 
siderations that came 
up. First, our time 
would be limited; 
for which reason we 
should strike for the 
nearest point, so as 
to spend as little time 
as possible in going 
and coming. This 
indicated the West 
Indies or Central 
America ; but our 
vacation would occur 
in June, July, and 
August, and these 
are rainy months in 
those regions. We 
could reach Vene- 
zuela in a little over 
six days from New 
York, but at that 
time that country was upset by civil war, and unsafe for travelers. 
To Panama the same objection applied as to Central America, and, 
in addition, there were vague rumors of yellow fever. 




A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



The interior of Colombia was found to answer our requirements, 
and was therefore selected as our destination. 

During the winter we perfected our plans, got together our bag- 
gage, and tried to find out something about the country. This last 
proved to be a difficult task. I ransacked the various bookstores in 
New York, but nearly every book on Colombia that I found had 

been written during the twenties, and was 
therefore of but little assistance to us. I 
however found one that contained fairly good 
maps, and gave considerable information 
about roads, distances, etc. I refer to Hol- 
ton's " New Granada." 

In regard to our baggage : in the interior 
of the country it would have to be transported 
on the backs of mules, for which reason our 
trunks could not be larger than the ordinary 
steamer trunk, nor could they weigh over 125 
pounds apiece, so that when they were slung, 
one on either side of the mule, the total load 
should not exceed 250 pounds. We were to 
carry two 12-gauge Parker's, one a very light 
smooth-bore, the other a heavy choke. My 
brother wrote that he would, bring also his 
32-calibre Winchester. I wished to carry 
paper shells, but economy of space made me 
decide upon brass ones, which could be re- 
loaded an indefinite number of times. Our 
wads were taken from their boxes and put into shot-bags, as they 
could thus be packed more compactly. The powder we got in one- 
pound cans, and all of the above went into the trunks among our 
clothes. For shot, we took a good supply of dust, 8's, 3's, and a 
few buck, all done up in a stout bag that could be easily packed. 
For stuffing birds I carried a supply of arsenic, corn-meal, cotton, 
and scissors. 




6 



A FLYIXG TEIP TO THE TROPICS. 



Upon looking into the matter, we found that there were three 
practical routes from New York to Savanilla (now Puerto Colombia), 
the seaport town for the interior of Colombia. First, there was the 
Atlas Line, running to Savanilla, but touching- at various ports in 
San Domingo, and thus stringing out the voyage to fourteen days ; 
secondly, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company's Line to Colon, on 




THF. VF.XF.zrF.T.A. 



the Isthmus of Panama, in eight days, and from there three or four 
steamers per month to Savanilla ; and, thirdly, the Red " D " Line 
to Venezuelan ports, touching at the island of Curacao on the sixth 
day out, and from this island various steamers of the English and 
German lines touching at Savanilla. The greatest delav that we 
might have at Curacao would be a week, whilst, on the other hand, 
we might make close connection, and for this reason we selected the 
last route. We finally engaged our staterooms on the S. S. Vene- 
zuela, sailing Saturday, June 11. 

I remember now with what feelings of delight I opened the letter 
from the steamship company, drew out the tags marked "passen- 
ger's basraraare, S. S. Venezuela, Curacao," and fastened them to 



THE VOYAGE. 7 

our trunks. Our longed-for trip was finally assuming a tangible 
form. 

It must not be supposed that our preparations progressed without 
opposition ; our friends all protested when they learned that we 
were 2"oinp; to South America in the summer. It was in vain that 
we represented to them that being so near the equator there would 
be but little difference in the temperature from one year's end to 
another. Our respective families and relations were disgusted. 
Their letters to us were filled with our obituaries, with stories of 
poisonous serpents, of all sorts of malignant and deadly fevers, of 
assassinations, and of lesser evils without end. I was reminded 
of the " Jumblies " in the nonsense book, who, 

" In spite of all their friends could say, 
In a sieve they went to sea." 

Well, the winter and spring went by; June 11 came at last, and 
found us together in New York. We left our hotel about eleven, 
drove down to Pier 36, East River, and went aboard the Venezuela 
about noon. We spent the time remaining before the sailing of our 
steamer in getting our luggage arranged in our very large and com- 
fortable staterooms, and in examining the ship. The Venezuela was 
practically new, the staterooms very clean and well ventilated, the 
saloon and dining-room handsomely finished in quartered oak. She 
was of 2,300 tons, the largest vessel of the line. 

The pilot came aboard a few minutes before one, and at one sharp 
we pulled out from the pier, headed down the bay, and started off. 
I had my " Hawk-eye" in readiness, and took parting shots at the 
Brooklyn Bridge and the Liberty Statue as we steamed by. The 
day was very pleasant and the sea smooth. When off Sandy Hook 
we slowed up, our pilot was taken off by his boat, and we started 
ahead again. 

Shortly after this I saw my first stormy petrels. Quite a flock of 
them followed the steamer until it grew too dark to see. They 
were smaller than I expected to find them, — little gull-like birds 
with white rumps. 



8 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



There are some people who laugh at seasickness, but I am unfor- 
tunately not among that number. In about an hour I began to 
feel wretched, and I grew steadily worse. Cabell also looked green. 
Alice held out better. When night came I would have been glad 
to die, and fell into my berth in a sort of stupor. 

Let us not dwell 
upon a painful re- 
membrance. 

The folio win of 
day, Sunday, June 
12, when I crawled 
out on deck we were 




' OUR PILOT WAS TAKEN OFF BY HIS BOAT. 



dashing 
Gulf 



throusfh 



the Gulf Stream 
I was at once struck 
by the change in 
the color of the 
water; it had now 
become of a most 
brilliant and beau- 
tiful dark blue, en- 
tirely different from 
the greenish blue 
of the water nearer 
the coast. Looking 
towards the stern 
of the vessel, I saw 



that 



we were 



still 



followed by a flock of the small petrels that I had seen the day 
before. They circled around the stern, every now and then drop- 
ping down to the foam in our wake to pick up some particle of 
food, and then hastening on to rejoin the retreating ship. They 
came within a few feet of the rail, and I, encouraged by a tempo- 
rary lull in my symptoms, took my camera and went back to take a 



THE VOYAGE. 



9 




snap shot at some of them, but the 
motion over the screw was so much 
greater than that amidships that I 
gave in before I succeeded, and re- 
treated to my stateroom more wretch- 
ed than ever. In the afternoon I 
saw a few flying-fish, and some " Por- 
tuguese men-o'-war," the latter offer- 
ing a beautiful sight as they sailed lightly 
over the waves, resplendent with various 
shades of violet, purple, and pink. 

Sunday night the wind freshened, and 
all day Monday we pitched through a head 
sea, the wind being from the southeast. 
We all felt worse than ever. I thought 
the sea very rough, as the waves repeat- 
edly washed over the decks. A flying-fish 
came on board and was caught. I exam- jjjjj 
ined it as closely as I could. It was a jj§ , . 
small one, about six inches long, a deep j§ 
blue color above and silvery white below, 111/ ; 
a splendid example of protective colora- j| 
tion, as its colors harmonized with the HH 
deep blue of the water and snowy white fijj 
of the foam. Later in the day I saw a |j§ 
bird about the size of a pigeon, black jpjjjfe 
above and white below, and more stocky jjj 
than a tern. It flew close to the surface Ip 
of the waves. It was not a tern, but flew 
much like a gull, not with the rapid wing- 
beats of a murre, and was probably a 
shearwater. 

The wind continued on Tuesday, but 

„ - J PORTUGUESE 

not so iresn as on the day betore, and, to (By permission of 



MAN-0 

American 



-WAR. 

Book Co.) 



10 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

my great relief, our symptoms began to moderate, and we once 
more took an interest in life. We began to make the acquaintance 
of the passengers, among whom we found especially agreeable Mr. 
Birtner, the German consul to Maracaibo, who was accompanied by 
his family. We also began to develop ravenous appetites and to 
look forward impatiently to meal- time, when we did full justice 
to the good dishes of the Venezuela's cook. Captain Hopkins was 
kind enough to place us at his table, and did a great deal to make 
our trip a pleasant one. 

This day we saw hundreds of flying-fish, and watched a great 
many of them throughout their flight. They cannot be properly 
said to fly, yet they do more than simply sail through the air with 
the momentum acquired by their start from the water. As soon as 
they clear the water, they spread their wide pectoral and anal fins 
and hold them horizontal and motionless during the remainder of 
their flight. They can steer themselves up or down, as I saw hun- 
dreds of them keep at a distance of a few inches above the surface, 
going down into the troughs between the waves, but rising to clear 
the crests. I also saw some, when they had lost most of their 
velocity and were apparently just about to return to the water, droop 
the hinder part of their bodies until their tails touched the water, 
when they would wriggle them rapidly and. violently and thus get a 
new impetus without actually entering the water. 

Wednesday was like Tuesday ; the wind was still against us, so 
we did not go along as rapidly as we otherwise would ; still we aver- 
aged about three hundred miles per day. 

On Thursday morning, as we made the Mona passage, we saw 
our first land since leaving New York : Mona rock, a sharp and 
rugged peak rising from the water on our left ; Mona Island, a 
large, barren-looking table-land, with precipitous and, in some places, 
overhanging shores on our right. To the extreme right was a little 
flat sand-bar of an island, Little Mona, or Monita, and in the far 
distance to the left rose the blue mountains of Puerto Rico. 

As we drew near the passage, many birds came around the ship ; 



THE VOYAGE. 



11 



among them a beautiful tropic bird with a yellow beak, white plu- 
mage with black wing patches, and long white plumes in its tail, 
sooty and noddy terns, flocks of boobies, the adults brown above and 
white below, the young uniform plain brown with bluish green faces 
and beaks. These attempted several times to settle on the rigging 




YELLOW-BILLED TROPIC BIRD (PHAETHON FLAVIROSTRIS). 



of the vessel. Late in the afternoon we saw a tremendous school of 
porpoises — all small ones not over four feet long, but there were 
at least three hundred of them. 

The weather was pleasant ; there were a few showers, but the 
trade wind was constant, and we did not feel the heat. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ISLAjSTD* OF CURACAO. 

Friday, June 17, 1892. We were all up bright and early, keep- 
ing- a sharp lookout for the first sight of land, and about eleven 
o'clock we saw away off on the horizon a faint blue peak which rose 
from the sea, as we drew nearer, and finally spread out into the 
Island of Curacao. This island, which now belongs to the Dutch, 
is long and narrow, and lies with its longer axis N. W. and S. E. 
It is forty miles long and about ten miles wide, and contains an area 
of two hundred and twelve square miles. It is about fifty miles from 
the mainland of South America, and as we rounded its northwest 
end, and ran down its southwest coast, we saw to our right a faint 
blue line of mountains, the peninsula of Coro. We steamed along 
at a distance of from two to three miles from the coast for about 
twenty-five miles, and had a good opportunity to examine the island. 
It consists of a succession of peaks, some with a gradual slope on 
one side and abrupt cliff on the other, others with a flat top and 
abrupt fall on all sides. It is of coral formation, and all along the 
coast of the northern part there are miniature cliffs of from ten to 
twenty feet high, and at their feet long stretches of most dazzlingly 
clean-looking sand. The waves have undermined these cliffs in a 
number of places, making small caves along the water's edge. I 
have never seen a more beautiful sight than the deep blue waters 
of the Caribbean Sea breaking in waves on the smooth beaches of 
Curacao. As the water grew shallower, the blue changed in shade 
to the color called peacock-blue, and this closer in became a light 
STeen. 



• 



-§=£ 



IAP OF Tlllg 



j 



mm 



FROM OFFICIAL SURVEYS OF 



m\)lP. 



' " : 




THE ISLAND OF CURACAO. 



13 



From a distance the island looked green ; but as we drew nearer, 
it was seen that the greater part was practically barren. The coral 
rock showed everywhere, and was covered with a small scrubby 
growth hardly waist high. In the valleys between the peaks were 
a few trees. Farther south the shore grew more level, the beaches 
wider and at one place there was a large mangrove swamp. 

Shortly after one o'clock we knew that we had been sighted, for 
we saw the signal flying from a staff on one of the peaks to the 
northwest of the harbor of Santa Ana, and later the little town of 








VESSEL PASSING BETWEEN FOKTS AT NARROW ENTRANCE OF HARBOR OF CURACAO. 

(From Photograph by Ugueto.) 



Willemstad came into view, the houses looking so charmingly neat 
and fresh colored that they seemed to be china toys. 

About half past two we were outside of the town ; we drew nearer 
the shore, steamed slowly along past the entrance to the harbor, 
picked up the venerable-looking white-haired pilot who came out to 



14 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 




,v ". >-...:• > . • ; 

^ t m''~->. -- v ... - ■ 

--^^— , ; v i! '•-■• : • 




us in a whale-boat pulled by four very black negroes, then wheeled 
sharply around to our right, and continued on the circle until it 
brought us in between the two forts guarding the entrance. 

This is a very strange harbor ; its entrance nearly perpendicular 
to the coast-line, hardly one hundred yards wide, and continuing 
inland, more like a canal than anything else, for nearly a mile, when 
it opens out into a large and very irregular bay called the Schotte- 
gat, or more generally the Lagoon. This canal is about one hun- 
dred and seventy-five yards wide at its widest part, yet runs from 
forty-five to ninety feet in depth, with its shores so steep that the 
largest steamers can safely make fast within a few feet of the pave- 
ments, and at some points actually tie up alongside. There are no 
streams on the island, no running water, and no current or tide 




THE ISLAND OF CUBACJAO. 15 

in this harbor. Its formation is due to the coral structure of the 
island. 

The town lies on both sides of the harbor mouth, but does not 
extend back to the Lagoon. The portion to the right is called 
Willemstad, whilst that to the left is called Overzijde or Otrabanda, 
which are Dutch and Spanish respectively, and mean about the same 
as the English "other shore." Just before the channel debouches 
into the Lagoon, the land on either side rises into rugged hills, the 
one to the right being the higher and being surmounted by a small 
fortification, Fort Nassau. Owing to the elevation of this fort, it 
commands a view of the sea for a 
long distance around, and from it 
are displayed signals announcing 
the approach of vessels. From it, 
also, a time-gun is fired daily. 

After passing the forts with 
groups of Dutch soldiers in curious 
ill-fitting uniforms, ridiculously tall 
forage caps, and short heavy swords 
at their sides, we went through a 
drawbridge of rather novel con- 
struction, proceeded a quarter of 
a mile inland, and finally our vessel 
turned around (though there hard- 
ly seemed room for it to do so), 
and we tied up along the western 
shore, sparred off to a distance of 
fifteen feet. The water is wonder- 
fully clear, and we saw numbers of 
fish of different kinds and sizes swimming about. There were sev- 
eral other steamers in the harbor, the Caracas of the Red " D " Line 
bound north, the branch steamer Maracaibo, a German steamer, 
and beyond, in the Lagoon, a couple of small men-of-war, Spanish 
and Dutch. 





DUTCH SOLDIER AT CURACAO. 



16 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

Our vessel was soon surrounded by small boats, flat-bottomed, 
square at each end, sculled by very large and very black negroes 
who stood on the back seat. (See illustration on page 13.) They 
brought out the port officer and runners from the hotels across 
the harbor from us. 

Tired of being cooped up on shipboard, we thought of going 
over to spend the night at one of the hotels, although Captain Hop- 
kins was kind enough to ask us to remain on the Venezuela. How- 
ever, as I had some misgivings, I concluded to leave our baggage 
on board until we had made an inspection, so we took one of the 
small boats and went across, first to the Hotel Commercio, where 
we were shown up a flight of steep and rickety stairs to some white- 
washed, bare, and unattractive rooms over a store ; then we went to 
the Hotel Sasso, which' we found worse, and finally, discouraged by 
the outlook, we concluded to accept the captain's invitation. Every- 
thing is comparative in this world. In less than two months we 
were delighted to get rooms at the Commercio, and found them 
extremely comfortable. 

After this we took a short walk through the streets. We saw 
swarms of negroes in every direction, men and women, both remark- 
able for their fine size. The men wore straw hats, a light shirt, a 
pair of trousers, and were barefooted. The women wore turbans, 
one dress, and were barefooted, or at best wore slipshod slippers or 
alpargatas. Some of them wore dresses but little below the knee, 
others had long stiff-starched trains scraping and rattling over the 
pavement behind them, whilst the front of the dress cleared the 
ground by a foot. Children went naked, or wore but one ragged 
garment. We saw one boy of eight or nine with nothing but an 
old buttonless waistcoat which had belonged to a stout man, and 
which flapped around his knees. 

The women carried their children astride of one hip ; everything 
else they carried balanced on the head. We soon found it so hot 
that we returned to the steamer, and later Cabell and myself went 
out for a walk, leaving Alice on board. We strolled around the 



THE ISLAND OF CURACAO. 



17 



streets for about an hour, and then came back. We crossed the 
drawbridge through which we had passed earlier in the day. It is 
a pontoon bridge, a number of whose centre spans are fastened 
rigidly together by the road-bed, so that the whole swings open like 
a gate. On the pontoon farthest from the pivot is a donkey-engine 
such as is used on shipboard. To open the bridge, this engine takes 
in a rope fastened to an anchor up-stream ; to close it, it hauls in 
on a rope in the opposite direction. It is a toll-bridge, the toll 



, 



, ./%■ 



fifi 

US * -* s 





DRAWBRIDGE ACROSS THE HARBOR AT CURACAO. 

(From Photograph by Soublette.) 

being two coppers of Dutch money, about equivalent to one cent 
in our currency. 

The town is very picturesque ; the houses and streets are remark- 
ably neat looking. Though the island is so near the mainland, where 
it rains frequently, here it rains but seldom ; sometimes two years 
go bv without rain. There are no springs or good wells, and for 
drinking water cisterns are depended upon. There is, strange to 



18 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



say, little or no dust. The houses are of stone covered with stucco 
or plastered, and are painted or washed in different colors. Yellow 
is the prevailing color, but a number are blue, green, white, and 
pink. The roofs are covered with red tiles. Few of the windows 




DWELLINGS AT CURASAO. 



are glazed, although all have heavy blinds, usually green and 
white, and the lower windows have large iron or wooden bars built 
in. The trimmings, door-frames, house corners, and ridges of the 
roofs are painted white. A great many of the houses have their 
gable ends facing the street, but the slope of the end walls is 
prettily broken into curves and angles, with appropriate moulding 
all along. There are no chimneys to the houses. Cooking is done 
over a handful of twigs or charcoal in a little iron or earthenware 
vase like a fruit-dish. They are much like a plumber's stove, or 



THE ISLAND OF CURACAO. 19 

like the stoves that our laundresses use to heat their irons. Of 
course one is required for each dish, as only one article at the time 
can be cooked on them. The stores are well supplied, and as this 
is a free port everything- i s extremely cheap, — many things beincr 
much cheaper than they are in the United States. 

The streets, some of which are too narrow for any vehicle, have 
no sidewalks, but are all neatly paved with water-worn coral blocks 
set m mortar. The pavements are put down in regular pattern, 
square sections with diagonal lines, like the letter X. We saw a 




NARROW STREET IN CURACAO. 

funny little street car drawn by a donkey. There were seats for 
only six passengers, and the car carried a driver and a conductor 

In the shade in front of houses, and in a great many doorways, 
squatted old negresses with fruits, peanuts, candies, dried fish, and 



20 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

charcoal for sale. Among the tropical fruits which I tasted for the 
first time were some " mamon.es/' a fruit which grows in bunches and 
looks like a large green grape. The skin was rougher and thicker, 
and when bitten split open, showing a sweetish, yellowish pulp 
around a large stone. I also tasted some mangoes, a large pear- 
shaped fruit with a smooth yellowish green skin. This, when peeled 
off, showed a soft yellow pulp, something like our pawpaw but more 
fibrous. It had a sicky sweet taste, with a flavor of turpentine 
that made it very disagreeable to me. I also saw a fruit called 
" cachii," pear-shaped, pink and yellow, with a lead-colored bean- 
shaped excrescence at the larger end. The fruit which they speak 
of highly here, the " nispero." we did not get. 

The different kinds of money in circulation here is remarkable : 
old Spanish, Portuguese, Venezuelan. English, Dutch, French, — 
in fact, all kinds of coin. It is rather confusing to attempt to pay 
an account made out in guilders and florins from change consist- 
ing of francs, shillings, and reals. American gold, silver, and paper 
passes freely, but not the live-cent nickel. Speaking of money 
reminds me that an American contemplating a visit to South Amer- 
ica need never trouble to get English gold. American gold is 
taken, and passes freely everywhere. 

The natives speak a mongrel dialect called " Papamiento," and 
even have .several papers printed in it. It resembles Spanish some- 
what, but includes a number of words of Dutch derivation. I 
found it almost unintelligible. I succeeded, after a fashion, in 
making myself understood in Spanish, as nearly all of the natives 
speak a little of that language. 

Of domestic animals we saw a few small horses, donkeys about 
waist high. curs, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, pigeons, and mus- 
eovv ducks. We saw for sale at different places a number of 
young parrakeets, green, with dirty yellow or buff -colored heads 
[Conurus pertinax). They were not fully feathered, and we were 
told that they had been taken towards the northwestern end of the 
island. 



THE ISLAND OF CURACAO. 21 

In a negro's house, near the steamer, we saw in a cage a number 
of young birds, none of them fully fledged. There were some 
doves, which were the same as the little ground dove of our South- 
ern States (Columbigallina passerind). There was also a pigeon, 
considerably larger, of a wine-colored gray, with white feathers in 
its wings {Columba gymnopthalma). This was an undeveloped 
squab. The man called it " paloma con alas blancas," white-winged 
dove. There were also three partridges, which, at first sight, I 
thought were the same as our Virginia bob-white ; but I soon saw 
that they were different. They were about half grown, and had a 
marked resemblance to the bob-white in shape and in coloration 
of their backs and tails. Their throats were white, with some 
reddish brown feathers among them ; but the distinguishing feature 
was a long recurved crest of whitish feathers, which they carried 
continually erect (Eupsychortyx cristatus). All of these had been 
caught within a short distance of the town. We also saw flying 
about, and heard it singing, a bird very much like our mocking-bird 
(Mimus gilvus rostratus). I saw hovering over some flowers on 
the parapet of one of the forts a small brilliantly green humming- 
bird (Chlorostilbon atala). 

On the stones in the water's edge along the harbor we saw quan- 
tities of sea-urchins, with spines eight inches long, barred with 
black and white (Diadema setosum). Before turning in for the 
night, we decided to go out with a gun early the next morning, 
and I arranged for the negro who had the caged birds to go along 
with us as a guide. 

Saturday, June 18, 1892. I was awake by five o'clock; woke 
Cabell, and we dressed hurriedly, and left the ship, taking our 
smaller gun and only fifteen squibs of dust-shot and a few heavy 
cartridges. We found our guide waiting patiently for us, and 
struck off up the hill to the northwest. It is forbidden for any one 
to go through the streets with a gun here ; but I had on a hunting 
coat, with voluminous game pockets, in which I put the stock and 
barrels, and did not put my gun together until we were beyond the 



22 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



limits of the town. We had hardly gone two hundred yards when 
we began to see numbers of the small ground doves ; and I shot 
two, one a male in fine plumage. They were, as I had thought, 
the same as those found in our Southern States. 

We first followed out a ridge running west for about a mile 
and a half. The country was very rough and hilly, the rock out- 
cropping in every direction. In places, the ground was covered 
with fragments of the fossil coral, looking like pieces of bones ; in 
others, the outcropping rock was as rugged and sharp as slag from 
a blast furnace. The surface was covered with a dry, thorny scrub, 
about three feet high, and the stems of this scrub were loaded with 
small, oblong, oval snails, about the size and shape of a 32-calibre 

rifle-ball. In walkino- along; we 
crushed so many under foot that 
our shoes were made quite sticky. 
In this scrub I saw and heard sev- 
eral little yellow birds, and shot 
one, which, on picking up, I found 
to be a warbler, — a male. It 
was much like our yellow warbler, 
except that its forehead and 
crown were chestnut (Dendroica 
rufoiyileatct). Along here we also 
saw a number of small finch-like 
birds, and Cabell shot a pair (Euetheia bicolor). The male was 
dark slate about the head and breast, the rest of its plumage 
greenish gray. The female was plain greenish gray. They have 
very high culmens, and look like little grosbeaks. We heard them 
singing in all directions. Farther on we turned to our right, and 
went down into a little valley, where there was a small pool of 
brackish water, and here were some few trees, a couple of tama- 
rinds, some date palms, and a number of calabash-trees. The cala- 
bashes are spherical or oval, smooth, and green like small water- 
melons, and grow from the trunk of the tree or side of the large 




CURAQAO LAND SHELL (PUPA UVA, LINN.). 



THE ISLAND OF CURACAO. 23 



limbs, and not at the end of a twig. We ate some of the tama- 
rinds, and found them quite refreshing. There was also another 
scrubby tree, hardly fit to be called a tree, with straggling thorny 
limbs and small leaves, like our honey locust. This tree was scat- 
tered pretty generally over the hills, and we noticed a peculiarity 
about it, that is, that the majority of its branches pointed towards 
the west. This is a result of the trade wind blowing constantly 
from the east. This tree bore a few tiny yellow blossoms, and 
around these we found some humming-birds. I missed the first 
one that I shot at ; but later Cabell killed a pair. They were 
smaller than our ruby-throat, the male a 
most beautiful glittering green, its tail 
steely blue, almost black, its wings dark 
purplish brown. The second was either a 
female, or young, and was similar to the 
first, except that its colors Avere less bril- 
liant. It had some dark grayish feathers 
below and a white streak on each side of its 
head. Both had little downy white puffs chlorostilbon spleisdidls. 

-J -l (After Elliot.) 

around their vents (Chlorostilbon atalci). 

A little later I shot a large sparrow, quite like our white-crowned 
sparrow. Its head was handsomely marked with black and gray, 
and it had a chestnut collar at the back of its neck (Zonotrichia 
pileata). In a calabash-tree near here I shot a species of honey- 
creeper ( Coereba uropygialis). It was slate-brown above, its breast 
and rump yellow, its head and throat slate-black, with a white 
stripe above each eye. There was a fleshy excrescence at its gape, 
which was pinkish red when the bird was fresh, but which faded 
rapidly. Its tongue had a peculiar brushy tip. 

We went on as far as a convent and an orphan asylum, where one 
of the nuns, a negress, gave us a drink of water. We then turned 
back, and reached the ship about nine. The roads near the convent 
were excellent, and had on either side a hedge of a species of cactus 
which grew up like tall posts to ten, fifteen, and even twenty feet in 




24 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

heio-ht. We found other kinds growing about ; one especially trou- 
blesome resembled our prickly pear, but had very long thorns. 
These appeared to have barbs on them, for when they entered the 
flesh they had to be picked to pieces before they could be extracted. 




TEN, FIFTEEN, AND EVEN TWENTY FEET IN HEIGHT." 



When we brushed against one of these plants, a whole segment 
would break off and hang dangling from our clothes. On our way 
back we saw a pair of small hawks (Tinnunculus sparverius brevi- 
pennis), and got a couple of good shots at them, but the cartridges 
that I happened to have with me had been loaded for several years 
and were worthless, so we failed to get one. They seemed to be 
much the same as our sparrow-hawk. Our guide said that they 
were called " child chiki," from their cry, which much resembled 
this word, and that they fed on the lizards, " larguitos," which liter- 



THE ISLAND OF CURACAO. 



25 



ally swarmed through the scrub, — repulsive-looking creatures, some 
green, some brown, and all spotted and blotched with lighter color. 
I was told that the green ones were males. They lived in burrows. 

We also saw at a distance some yellow and black orioles [Icterus 
xanthomus curasoensis). Our guide called them " tropiales," but 
they were not the common troupial. We saw numbers of the mock- 
ing-birds, but I had no more cartridges, so could not get any. The 
guide called them " ruiseiior," which is Spanish for nightingale. I 
saw a small red butterfly, and some very small grayish blue ones. 

When we returned, we found that in our absence an English 




MAIN STREET, CURASAO. 

(From Photograph hy Soublette.) 



tramp steamer, the Navigator, of the Harrison Line, had come in 
and would sail for Savanilla the same afternoon, so I hastened over 
to see her commander, Captain Owen, and secure our staterooms. 
I found the Navigator to be a large freight steamer with only six 
staterooms, the accommodations, being naturally far inferior in 



26 



A FLYING TBIP TO THE TBOPICS. 



every respect to those of the Venezuela. However, we were anxious 
to hurry on, so I took passage for us, for which I had to pay twenty 
dollars apiece in gold. We took lunch on the Venezuela, and after- 
wards I skinned the birds that 
we had shot in the morning. I 
had never skinned a humming- 
bird before, and the first one that 
I tried was such a sorry-looking 




ject when I had fin- 
shed, that I simply 
opened the second, took 
out the intestines, and filled it with dry arsenic. This is the way 
that I preserved nearly all of the humming-birds that I secured on 
this trip, and I afterwards had cause to regret it. Though they 
look well enough at first, and though the rlesh is preserved, it 
shrivels until the skin is distorted ; and. again, if the birds are 
packed away in a trunk for a week or ten days without being- 
aired, they are apt to be mouldy and mildewed when taken out. I 
should advise all collectors to skin then humming-birds as they do 
larger birds. 

Later in the afternoon we took a short walk through the streets, 
went into the old Dutch fort to the post-office, mailed some letters, 
came back to say good-by to our friends on the Venezuela, then 
had our baggage taken over to the Navigator, and settled ourselves 
in our staterooms. As we crossed the harbor, I saw flying over, 
high in the air. a frigate pelican [Fregata aquila). It sailed along 
gracefully, opening and closing its scissor-like tail. 

AVe cast loose our lines about half past four, soon passed out of 



THE ISLAND OF CURACAO. 



27 




the harbor, headed slightly to the 
north of west, and before night- 
fall Curacao had sunk out of our 
sight. We ran along with a 
strong current and wind in our favor, and the ship rolled consider- 
ably, but fortunately I had no recurrence of my unpleasant expe- 
rience on the Venezuela. 

The second night before reaching Curacao, I saw for the first 
time that constellation of which we have all so often heard, the 
Southern Cross, and this 
night we had a much better 
view of it. I must confess 
to being greatly disappoint- 
ed. The stars are not so 
brig-lit as I had been taught 
to expect, nor is the cross a 
symmetrical one in any way. 
The arms are not perpen- 
dicular to the vertical part, 
nor are they of equal length. 
The accompanying figure 

gives the Southern Cross as represented in the geography that I 
studied when a schoolboy, and a second figure of the cross in more 
nearly its true proportions. 




THE SOUTHERN CROSS OF THE GEOGRAPHIES AND 
THE TRUE SOUTHERN CROSS. 



28 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

We were on board all the day of Sunday, June 19, and went 
along nicely with wind and current in our favor. I saw during 
the day a few petrels, and some large gannets, white, with black 
wing-tips, like the common one of our north Atlantic coast. We 
expected to reach Savanilla on the following morning. It was cloudy 
and hot during the day, and there were several small showers. 

This would seem to be an appropriate place to make a few 
remarks about Colombia. I will not attempt to give a lengthy 
account of the country ; for this I would refer to the Encyclopaedia, 
to Bulletin No. 33 of the Bureau of American Republics, or to 
some of the works mentioned in the appendix ; but I will simply 
refer to some of the leading features. 

The Republic of Colombia consists of nine divisions or depart- 
ments, each having a capital of its own, and is situated in the north- 
west corner of South America. Its northwestern extremity, the 
department of Panama, joins Central America ; on the southern 
boundary is the Republic of Ecuador, and to the east lies Venezuela 
and Brazil. Our ideas of the relative size of the South American 
republics are apt to be vague. For instance, the area of Colombia is 
over 500,000 square miles, or equal to the combined area of the 
New England States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Dela- 
ware, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, 
North Carolina, and Georgia. It is of irregular shape ; its greatest 
length is about 1,250 miles, its breadth 1,100 miles, that is, each 
dimension is, roughly, a third greater than the distance from New 
York to Chicago. It is one of the most mountainous countries in 
the world. The great Andes of Ecuador, crossing its southern 
boundary, split into three nearly parallel ranges. The western 
range follows the Pacific coast, decreasing in altitude as it enters the 
Isthmus of Panama. The central range runs directly north until it 
terminates about one hundred miles from the Caribbean Sea. On 
its western side flows the Cauca, on its eastern the Magdalena, 
which unite at its termination and continue northward to the sea. 
The eastern range is more irregular and bears off to the northeast. 




MAP OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF 



THE ISLAND OF CURACAO. 29 

A portion extends through Venezuela, whilst another portion con- 
tinues as far as the Caribbean, where, near Santa Marta, it rises in 
snowy peaks 16,500 feet above the sea. From the eastern slope of 
this range countless rivers flow into the Amazon, the Negro, and the 
Orinoco. The Magdalena, which is practically the only highway in 
Colombia, has a dangerous bar at its mouth, but above this is navi- 
gable by steamers of light draught to Yeguas, a distance of some 
630 miles. Here there is an interruption due to rapids, but above 
Honda small steamers continue the navigation to Neiva, and canoes 
are used even farther, making the total navigable length nearly 
1,000 miles. From Honda to the sea the river falls between 800 
and 1,000 feet, so is very swift, and were it not for its crookedness, 
the current would prevent navigation. Climates of all tempera- 
tures, from torrid heat to perpetual snow, are found in Colombia, 
and due to its broken surface it has two rainy and two dry seasons. 
For the Magdalena Valley, March, April, May, and September, 
October, and November are the rainy months, but the line between 
the seasons is not suddenly or sharply drawn. 

Though there are a number of little fragments of railroads 
throughout Colombia, there is no railroad system proper, and where 
transportation cannot be had by water, dependence mast be placed 
upon mules. Thus the capital of the Republic, a city of over 
100,000 inhabitants is inaccessible by wheeled conveyance. There 
is said to be a poor wagon road from the river to the south of 
Honda, but it is seldom used. 



CHAPTER III. 

BARRANQUILLA. 

Monday, June 20, 1892. I looked out of the porthole of our 
little stateroom by daybreak this morning, and although I could 
see no land on account of a heavy mist, I knew that we were near 
the delta of the Magdalena. The sea was very muddy for many 
miles and covered with floating water plants and driftwood. In a 
short time the mist lifted and we began to catch little glimpses of 
the Colombian coast. We soon got our things together and came 
on deck, all excitement at the prospect of landing in a few hours. 
We finally came to anchor at half past eight about a mile from the 
land at Puerto Colombia. Savanilla was formerly the port, but 
the shifting sands have filled in the deep water there, so now the 
landing is several miles farther to the west. The harbor is a very 
exposed one, and I should think dangerous. There were several 
German and English steamers lying- at anchor. We were shortly 
visited by the inspector of the port in a little cockle-shell of a tug 
with an excruciatingly shrill whistle, and about nine o'clock we got 
aboard of her and were taken ashore. On the tug were several 
passengers who had come from one of the other steamers, and on 
our way to the shore I made the acquaintance of one of them, a Mr. 
Lindauer of New York, engaged in business in Bogota. Afterwards 
we saw a good deal of each other, and as he was familiar with the 
country, he was of great assistance to us on a number of occasions, 
and went to a great deal of trouble to help us. 

We finally reached the landing, which was nothing but a few 
extremely slippery boards nailed to some worm-eaten piles in the 



BABBANQUILLA. 



31 




■m : 



VHrnmnmn *,„ 



3 



PUERTO COLOMBIA. 

(After Millican.) 



water's edge. Our satchels were tossed upon the landing-, and we 
scrambled up as best we could, almost on our hands and knees. 
Once on top, we were surrounded by a perfect swarm of half-clad 
Indians and half-breeds of all sizes, who insisted upon carrying our 
things for us, whether we wished them to do so or not. Our trunks 
we could not take with us ; we would have to get them at the 
custom-house in Barranquilla. The satchels of our fellow-travelers 
were inspected by the customs officers at the landing, whilst the 
rabble crowded around and examined everything critically. Upon 
showing my special passport, we were allowed to carry off our 
things without their being inspected. 

Puerto Colombia is nothing; but a collection of a half dozen 
wretched bamboo huts plastered with mud and thatched with reeds. 
The huts have no floors 5 there are stagnant pools of slimy water 



32 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

in every direction, some even encroaching on the houses ; a few 
pigs wander listlessly about, and everything looks indescribably 
filthy. There is an iron screw-pile pier in process of construction, 
alongside of which, when completed, it is intended for steamers to 
lie, but it looked very weak to me. 

We went ahead about one hundred yards to the railroad station, 
where I got our tickets, and we boarded the train which was wait- 
ing. The road is a narrow gauge ; the cars of two classes and some- 
what of the appearance of our street cars. The freight cars are like 
the little closed trucks used in transferring baggage across the New 
York ferries. Our train left for Barranquilla at half past nine, and 
arrived there shortly after eleven. The distance is 18.5 miles. We 
first followed the seashore for several miles, then turned to the right 
and struck across country. The country that we passed through 
was covered with a jungle of scrubby, thorny trees ; no very large 
ones, with now and then a small grove of cocoanut palms. In a 
number of places rose large post-like cacti. The soil was sandy, 
with a limestone outcropping at a few places. The Magdalena was 
at its highest at this time ; consequently the whole country was 
flooded, and lakes and lagoons extended on both sides of the track. 

As soon as the train moved off, I began to keep a sharp lookout 
of the windows for birds. We saw large flocks of brown pelicans 
(Pelecamis fuscus), numbers of white egrets (Arclea egretta), and 
snowy herons (A. candidissimd), small grayish herons similar to our 
green heron but smaller (Butorides cyanurus), black vultures (Ca- 
tharista atrata), flocks of large black ducks with a white spot in 
each wing (Cairina moschata), pairs of large black and white stilts 
with red legs (JBimantopus mexicanus), great numbers of a species 
of jacana, dark, with a bright red frontal crest, and apparently all 
the feathers in the last joint of their wings whitish (Jacana nigra), 
large crow-blackbirds, the females chocolate-colored (Quiscalus as- 
similis), long-tailed anis (Crotophaga sulcirostris), kingfishers, 
larger than ours but with the same discordant rattle (Ceryle tor- 
quata), pigeons, ground doves, and quantities of flycatchers of dif- 



BARRANQUILLA. 



33 



ferent kinds. As we drew nearer Barranqnilla I saw a flock of 
birds flying' with rapid wing-beats, looking just like a flock of our 
doves ; but as they veered off, the sunlight struck them and I saw 
that they were light green in color. They were parrakeets, the 
first birds that I had seen on the mainland answering my expecta- 
tions as regards tropical birds. Later on, several flocks flew by the 
train near enough for me to hear their harsh, screeching notes. 
Just after leaving*; the seashore, I noticed on both sides of the 




HOTEL VICTORIA AND AMERICAN CONSULATE, BARRANQUILLA. 



track among the trees a great many burrows with a little mound of 
earth thrown up around the entrance, and in each of these I could 
see a large blue crab ( Cardiosoma guanhumi). 

Our three guns, which were in their canvas covers and strapped 
in one bundle, had been passed by the inspector at Puerto Colom- 
bia, and we anticipated no more trouble about them ; but, to our 



34 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

disgust, when we were leaving the station at Barranquilla, an old 
mulatto insisted on taking them to the custom-house. Arguments 
were of no avail ; we had to give them up. 

At the depot we took a carriage, a little open concern drawn by 
diminutive mules, and drove first to the Pension Ingles, a hotel kept 
by a young Englishwoman, a Miss Hoare. Unfortunately for us, 
she had no vacant rooms, though she promised to let us have some 
on the following day. From here we drove to the Hotel Colombia, 
with no better success. Finally, at the Hotel Victoria we secured 
a couple of rooms. The hotel was a single-story building, one room 
deep, facing the street. Back of this was a large courtyard filled 
with beautiful flowers and fruit trees. This would have been a 
delightful place, had it not been for the fact that all the slops from 
the bedrooms were regularly thrown under the shrubbery. Back 
of this court and facing it was a row of bedrooms, and we were 
given two of these. The rooms were dirty, with cement floors, plas- 
tered walls, the under side of the roof for the ceiling. There was a 
heavy door in front, and one window in rear protected by wooden 
bars. It had blinds, but no glass. From its name we expected to 
find this an English hotel, but it was kept by a native woman, and 
practically managed by the negro waiter, Sam. 

In our hurry in the morning we had left the ship without break- 
fasting, and here, according to the custom of the country, we did 
not get our breakfast until after twelve o'clock, so we were very 
hungry. Breakfast was served in the piazza facing the court. We 
had some strange dishes, none of them very good to my taste, but 
the coffee was excellent. The fresh meat is stringy and touo-h. 
Rice is well cooked, but is dark colored. 

After breakfast I went out alone to attend to a few matters. I 
first called at the American consul's, but found him out. A few 
hours later I was told that there was a man in the house at the 
time suffering from yellow fever, which he had contracted at some 
mines up the river. This was rather pleasant for me, especially as 
I had entered the house. From here I went to the custom-house 



36 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

and after a great deal of wrangling succeeded in getting our guns. 
The officials made but little objection to my taking the shot guns, 
but haggled a great deal over the rifle. After my repeated assur- 
ances that I had no warlike intentions, they finally gave it up to me. 

I then went to the Banco Nacional and cashed a bill of exchange 
for $500 in American gold, getting for it $1,000 in Colombian 
paper currency. As a great part of this was given to me in small 
notes, I had nearly a satchel full of money and felt very opulent. 
The paper notes in circulation are the hundred, fifty, twenty, ten, 
five, and one dollar or peso, and the fifty, twenty, and ten cents, or 
centavos. The peso is regarded as divided into one hundred cen- 
tavos, corresponding to our cent, and into ten reales, corresponding 
to our dime. There are also three nickel coins, media, cuartilla, 
etc., corresponding to 5, 2i, and 1| centavos. Silver coins are very 
scarce. Besides a few cuartillas I saw only two others, both fifty-cent 
pieces, which I bought and kept as curiosities. Gold I did not see. 
There are certain designations of currency which are apt to confuse 
a stranger ; for instance, there are terms which would nearly corre- 
spond, if translated, to " hard " and " soft " dollars. A " peso 
fuerte," or, as it is often called, a " fuerte," means a dollar of ten 
reales, whilst a peso is generally taken to mean a soft dollar of eight 
reales. 

Later in the afternoon we drove around to the market and bought 
some sleeping-mats, or " esteras." We had supper about six, and, 
being tired out, went to bed early. 

Barranquilla, although it covers a considerable area and contains 
a population of over 20,000 inhabitants, does not amount to much 
as a city except in a commercial sense. There are very few two- 
story houses; nearly all are of one story, the majority built of bam- 
boo and mud, plastered and whitewashed and thatched with rushes. 
The floors are of mud or brick. All of the windows on the street 
are protected by a framework of iron or wooden bars which pro- 
jects about a foot from the wall. The houses are unprepossess- 
ing from the outside, but as we passed along the streets we caught 



BARRANQUILLA. 



37 



glimpses through open doors of charming inner courts filled with 
beautiful flowers and plants. We noticed a peculiarity in the way 
that the furniture was arranged in the parlors. There were usually 
about six black rocking-chairs of bent wood in the room, and they 
were in the centre and facing each other in a double row, so close 
that they nearly touched. 

The furniture of our bedrooms was meagre in the extreme ; an 
enameled tin wash-basin and pitcher, a chair, an arrangement called 
a cot, but in reality a canvas stretcher fastened to a saw-horse. We 




MARKET COURT, BARRANQUILLA. 



spread our matting over this canvas, then a sheet over the matting, 
and the bed was made. Each cot had a good mosquito net sus- 
pended above it. 

In the market we saw a number of curious things. The market 
building is a large one-story structure with an arcade on three sides 



38 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



and a court in the centre. The side without the arcade is on 
the water's edge, a side channel of the Magdalena. This front 
was crowded with canoes, all dug out of single logs, and some of 
surprising size. 

We saw a great variety of fruits. The sellers were mainly women, 




DUG-OUTS ALONG THE MARKET FRONT. 



who squatted with their wares exposed in front of them. The lower 
classes here seem to be clean and good-looking ; some of the women 
are quite pretty. They wear dresses low necked and short sleeved 
with very short waists, a la Madame Recamier ; no head covering 
beyond a shawl ; their hair neatly arranged ; a great many with 
bright flowers in it. Children up to eight or nine go naked, or 
nearly so. We saw several little babies, barely a month old, lying 
on the sidewalk sleeping, naked and alone, with nothing under 



BABBANQ TJILLA . 39 

them except perhaps an old piece of bagging or a few plantain 
leaves. 

The water front of the market seemed to be the place of sale for 
fish. Although we saw no fresh fish, there were immense heaps of 
dried fish, split in the same way that our fishermen prepare mack- 
erel. The greater part were small, but there were some large ones 
with immense scales. One that I examined closely looked to me 
exactly like the figures of the tarpon. It had the same general 
shape, the same thin, projecting under jaw, the large eye and scales, 
and the pointed projection from the dorsal fin. The Indian name 
savalo," and they said that it came from higher up the river. 



was 




I; % 

ml',' 





THE SAVALO OR TARPON. 

(From Goode's " American Fishes.") 

Those that I saw were about two and a half feet long. Mr. Milli- 
can, in his "Adventures of an Orchid Hunter," p. 103, speaks of 
this fish, and says that he has seen specimens « seven feet long and 
two feet six inches in girth " ! We also saw great piles of dried 
shrimps, which were sold by measure. They are eaten boiled with 
rice, but in my estimation the rice is sadly damaged by the 
addition. 

There is in the town a street-car line, where little cars are drawn 
by sorry-looking mules, but it does not seem to be patronized. The 
streets are paved in but a few places; the rest is soft white sand, 
trying to the eyes when the sun is shining, and making all driving 
very heavy. 



40 



A FLYING TRIP TO IRE TROPICS. 




COFFEE ~TTTFR». BAEEA>"vrrXXA. 



A great many small donkevs are used, and although thev are not 
much larger than mastiffs, men ride them, sitting cross-legged like 
tailors, to prevent their feet from dragging. One man passed as 
perched on top of a little donkey, and with a live pig* hanging on 
either side, squealing at every step. 

There are barracks in the town, with a lot of dirty, unkempt sol- 
diers who are continually tooting away on their bugles. Their call 
for taps is almost identical with ours. 

There is in the town an electric light plant and also an artificial 
ice factory. 

In the Hotel Colombia I saw a large scarlet, blue, and green 
macaw and a toucan with a senate beak {Pteroglossus sp.). This 
bird assumed a most curious position when asleep, turning its tail 
up over its back and head instead of allowing it to hang as other 



BARRANQUILLA. 41 

birds do. In many of the houses along- the streets we saw parrots, 
parrakeets, and troupials. Black vultures are abundant. They sit 
in groups in the cocoa palms, on the roofs and fences, and are con- 
tinually flying down into the yards and streets to pick up refuse. 

It was cloudy all day, and there were several showers. It was 
also hot, especially in the early part of the night. 

Tuesday, June 21, 1892. We were awakened before daylight 
by the sound of music. It was the military band practicing, and 
although they selected such an unusual hour for their practice, I 
must admit that the music was excellent. Just about daybreak 
flocks of parrakeets began to fly over the town in a steady stream, 
and their incessant screeching put sleep out of the question. 

We were up early, and after taking some coffee and bread, Cabell 
and I went down to the custom-house to get our trunks. Travelers' 
baggage up to two hundred pounds (as well as I remember) is 
admitted free of duty ; anything beyond this must be paid for at an 
exorbitant rate. After waiting around for two hours, we got our 
trunks, and had them sent up to the Pension Ingles, then went back 
to the Victoria, got together our things, and moved over. We had 
a good breakfast about half past eleven, and a little after two 
o'clock we took a carriage, and, Alice taking a book, and Cabell 
and myself our guns, we drove out a couple of miles into the coun- 
try to have our first experience with South American birds. 

We drove along- a heavy, sandy road, with tracts of scrubby 
growth on either side, and here and there fields of a tall, thick, reedy 
grass. We saw no evidences of any crops. When we had gone 
out far enough, we turned out of the road, and left the carriage 
near an abandoned hut in an open field. We hunted around within 
a few hundred yards for about two hours, and saw great quantities 
of birds. I shot first, and killed a hawk that was perched in the 
top of a thick tree near the roadside. It saw me approaching, but 
was not shy, so I had no difficulty in getting within range. Before 
I shot at it, it uttered several times a shrill cry, and whilst doing so 
held back its head until its beak pointed vertically. It was about 



42 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



the size of our Cooper's hawk, its beak longer and not so hooked, 
its feet and claws weaker. Its beak was light bluish, cere yellow, 
head and neck dirty white, a dark brown, streak behind the eye, tail 
dusky with numerous narrow white bars, these bars becoming con- 
fluent at the rump, body and wings brown, below white with a buft'y 
wash (Milvago chimachima). 

Cabell then shot a curious kingfisher-like bird about the size of 
our catbird, but with a large head and heavy beak, which was 
slightly hooked at the tip, the hook being forked. Around the 
base of its beak were stiff bristles pointing forwards. Its toes were 




GROOVED-BILL ANI (CROTOPHAGA SULCIROSTRIs). 



BABRANQUILLA. 43 

two in front, two behind ; its tail-feathers narrow and weak. Its 
head and upper parts were dusky, with buff edgings to the feathers ; 
there was a dark brown ring across the breast, with a whitish band 
below ; the throat was buff, with a rusty blotch in the centre. Be- 
neath it was buffy, the flanks spotted with brown. There was a 
white streak below the eye, and a white band at the back of the 
neck. This was a rufous-throated puff-bird (Bucco ruficollis). 

I then shot a crotophaga, probably smaller than our crow-black- 
bird, but with a much longer tail, a curious high-arched bill ; toes, 
two in front and two behind ; hackle-like feathers on its neck, and 
of a uniform glossy blue-black (Crotophaga sidcirostrisf). A lit- 
tle farther on Cabell shot a handsome flycatcher, much like our 
great-crested, but larger, with a broad and large beak. Below it 
was sulphur-yellow ; above, rufous ; its crown blackish, with a con- 
cealed light yellow patch, a white streak from its nostrils back 
over the eye and entirely around the head. This was probably the 
pitangua flycatcher (Megarhynchus pitangua). I saw several flocks 
of parrakeets, — one of which lit near us, — and I started to creep 
up on them ; but they took alarm, and flew before I was within 
range. They circled, and came back near Cabell ; and he managed 
to get one. It was about the size of a robin, but with a long, 
pointed tail. Its beak and feet were light brown ; its eyes, brownish 
yellow. Its general coloration above was grass-green, with a trace 
of blue in the primaries and secondaries ; below, it was greenish 
yellow ; its upper breast, throat, and face were light greenish brown ; 
its forehead of a bluish gray (Conurus ceruginosus). 

I killed an oriole about the size of our Baltimore oriole ; its beak, 
wings, tail, and spot at the base of beak and under chin black ; the 
rest of its plumage a clear yellow (Icterus xanthornus) ; a small, 
thick-beaked finch of a uniform glistening blue-black ( Volatinia 
sp)lendens) ; a ground dove like those that we killed in Curagao 
( Colwnbigallina ptasserina) ; and a second one, somewhat larger, 
and of a rufous color (C. rufipennis). Around a calabash-tree we 
saw a couple of humming-birds, and Cabell managed to shoot one. 



44 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

It was glittering' green, almost exactly like those that we got in 
Curacao, but its tail was forked (Cklorostilbon angustvpennis). 

We saw a number of partridges, and tried to get some, but 
failed. They were just about the size of our Virginia partridge ; 
and, to my surprise, I several times heard them call " bob-white." 

All of the birds that we killed were in poor plumage ; they were 
evidently just beginning to moult. 

We saw some brilliantly colored butterflies of various species. 

I was surprised at the number of trees and bushes bearing thorns, 
— nearly all having thorns of different sizes. One tree, of large 
size and smooth, light green bark, had scattered over the trunk 
teat-like excrescences an inch or more in height and sharp-pointed, 
which would entirely prevent any one from climbing the tree. 
Some of the palms had very hard needle-like thorns, which would 
pierce the sole of a shoe ; others had rows of short hooks arranged 
like the teeth of a saw. 

As it was getting towards sundown, we turned back, and reached 
the hotel in time for supper. 

In the evening the American consul, Mr. Neckius, and his assist- 
ant, Mr. Candor, called upon us. It was hot, and there were one 
or two light showers. 

Wednesday, June 22, 1892. Cabell and I went out early to see 
about engaging passage and staterooms on the steamer Enrique, 
which was to start up the Magdalena on the following day for the 
head of navigation, Yeguas. After attending to this, we tried to 
get a trunk, so as to relieve the crowded condition of ours ; but we 
could not find a suitable one, so finally bought a " pataca," a sort 
of bale covering, made of raw hide, the hair side out, which is used 
throughout the country as a case for transporting tobacco on mule- 
back. It is closed by being laced up with a raw-hide thong. 

When we returned to the hotel, we repacked our things, leaving 
one trunk clear for skins. 

After breakfast, we took our guns and started oft' on foot. We 
walked down the railroad several miles, and. taking it easy, came 



BABBANQ UILLA . 45 

back at five o'clock. While walking- along the track about a mile 
north of the town, we saw an alligator some four feet in lenoth 
which had been run over and killed by the train. About two miles 
down, we left the track, and turned into some scrubby, thorny 
woods to our left. Here Cabell shot a parrakeet of the same kind 
as the one that he had killed the clay before, and a large pio-eon, 
larger than our dove, but of the same uniform color throuo-iiout,. 
The tips of its tail-feathers were whitish ; but beyond this it had 
no distinctive markings. I did not skin this bird, as it was in poor 
plumage ; and I did not get another specimen, so cannot identify it. 
From here, we turned back to the right, recrossed the track, and 
went over to the river, Avhere we found a great abundance of water- 
birds, the white-winged jacanas, purple gallinules {Ionornis mar- 
tinica), herons, ducks, etc. There was a skirt of small trees along 
the river, with here and there clumps of mangroves. Beyond the 
trees were reedy marshes extending out for perhaps half a mile. I 
had just reached the bank, and was walking along slowly, when a 
horrible-looking creature sprang up from under my feet and rushed 
off at a tremendous rate, stopping to look back at me when it had 
gone about thirty yards. I fired, and killed it. It was a lizard, 
over two feet in length, with very long and wide-spreading toes. 
It was brown, with darker markings on its sides, a conspicuous fin- 
like crest along its back and tail, and a light gray liberty-cap-look- 
ing growth at the back of its head. This was the basilisk (Basilis- 
cus americcnms). Later we saw quantities of them. They run 
with extraordinary rapidity, and stand higher from the ground 
when running than any lizard that I have seen. So rapid is the 
motion of their feet that they can actually run over the surface of 
water. This I saw repeatedly. I know of no other animal that 
can do this, except that I have seen frogs keep on the surface for a 
succession of rapid jumps; but frogs are web-footed, and these 
lizards are not. I saw several cross pools ten feet in width and 
keep on the surface for the whole distance. They also climb well. 
We saw them in the mangroves on branches overhanging the water. 



46 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



As we passed under a low tree, one, frightened by us, sprang out 
on Cabell's back, and thence to the ground, giving him quite a 
start. We also saw numbers of other lizards, some striped green, 
blue, and yellow; other small ones, gray, with dark red heads. 

Wading along the water's edge, we shot a pair of ibises, larger 
than our white ibis, but of the same general shape. They were of 




BASILISCUS AMEEICANUS. 



a dark glossy green, their legs, beaks, eyes, bare skin of face and 
gular space red (Phimosus infuscatus). We got several shots at 
flocks of parrakeets, and killed five or six, all of the same kind. 
They had been feeding on mangoes, and it was a difficult matter 
to prevent the soft yellow pulp that oozed from their beaks from 
soiling their feathers. We also shot some blackbirds of the same 
general shape as our red-winged ones, but smaller and with yellow 



BABRANQUILLA. 



47 




TURKEY-BUZZARD (CATHARTES AURA). 

(From "Riverside Natural History," by permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co.) 

heads (Xanthosomus icterocephalus). I shot a small finch with a 
chestnut breast and a light gray back, but its plumage was in such 
a soiled condition that I did not preserve it (Sporophila sp. ?)'. 
Flying about over the marsh we saw numbers of hawks, but we did 
not shoot any, as they would all have fallen into the water beyond 
our reach. They were large, dark brown with a conspicuous white 
rump, forked tail, and beak with a long hook {Rosthramus socia- 
bilis). They quartered about like our marsh-hawk, close to the 
surface of the reeds. Among the rushes I saw some little birds 



48 ,4 FLYING TRIF TO THE TROPICS. 

conspicuously marked with black and white [Flwoicola pica). Their 
motions seemed to be just like those of our hooded flycatcher. 
They, too, kept out over the water, where Ave could not go, so we 
got no specimens. Cabell shot a hawk like the one that I had killed 
the day before, and I shot a second one very similar to the first, 
but with a brown head. It was probably a young one. " As wild 
as a hawk " is an expression of no meaning in Colombia ; they are 
not at all shy, and it is an easy matter to approach within range. 

We saw a few humming-birds, but got no shots at them. I also 
saw some turkey-buzzards (Cathartes aura), but they were scarce in 
comparison with the black vultures. 

Birds were building at this season, and all were in bad plumage, 
so they were probably preparing for second broods. We saw ibises 
carrying sticks for their nests. On our way back we stopped at a 
little hut in a grove of cocoa palms, and I induced a small boy to 
climb one of the trees and get us some of the green nuts to quench 
our thirst with their milk. After throwing down some of them, 
he pulled out a nest from among the thick leaf-stems and threw it 
down to us. It contained two small spotted eggs nearly hatched, 
which were broken by the fall. The birds flew around uttering 
plaintive cries. They were the size of our scarlet tanager, and of 
a light bluish gray, darker on the wings and tail ( Tanagra cana). 
The Indians called them " azulejo," which translates "bluebird" 
pretty closely. 

After supper we skinned some of our birds, having a good deal 
of trouble with the parrakeets. It is difficult to get the skin of the 
neck to pass the head. It was hot all day, with a heavy rainstorm 
in the morning. 

In the courtyard of our hotel there were several cages of parra- 
keets and troupials. One of the latter was a splendid songster, and 
imitated to perfection some of the bugle-calls. Whenever any one 
irritated it, it puffed out its throat until the hackle-like feathers 
stood out almost on end, and at the same time the pupils of its eyes 
contracted until they were mere points. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE MAGDALEXA RIVER. 

Thursday, June 23, 1892. We were busy packing in the early 
morning-, as our boat was to leave at eleven, and at the last moment 
we were so hurried that we did not have time for breakfast, but 
snatched a few hasty mouthfuls and left. When we reached the 
Enrique, we regretted not having taken more time for our break- 
fast, for it was three o'clock when we finally moved off. It was 
very provoking to have to sit around and wait, but we could not 
help it, nor did any one seem to know for what we were waiting. 
Just as we were moving off we heard a great outcry, and, looking 
back, saw a passenger calling for us to come back for him ; so we 
ran in to the shore, and he came aboard. Just imagine, in the 
United States, any one going at three o'clock to catch a steamer 
advertised to sail at eleven ! 

Whilst waiting at the wharf I noticed on shore great piles of 
what I thought were potatoes, but upon examination I found them 
to be vegetable-ivory nuts. 

A great many kites, like those that we had seen the day before, 
flew about the steamer, and I saw them from time to time dip down 
gracefully and pick up some floating object from the water. 

The Enrique, of which we give an illustration, was built by a 
Pittsburgh firm, and, like the Ohio River steamers, is a stern- 
wheeler, burning wood, of two to three feet draught, but high above 
water. On the lower deck forward are the boilers with wood stacked 
on either side ; then comes the space for crew, freight, and live cattle 
for beef on the trip ; then the engines. Forward, on the deck above, 



50 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

is piled the passengers' baggage, and this is where we spent the 
greater portion of our time when not driven in by the heat. Next 
come the staterooms, eight in number ; then an open space, where 
we dined ; and in rear the pantry and bathroom. Still higher is 
the pilot-house. The staterooms are small, perfectly plain, with a 
single canvas cot in each. No bedding is supplied by the boat, so 
a part of every passenger's baggage is a roll of matting, a pillow, 
and a mosquito net. The fare is sixty dollars in paper to Yeguas, 
staterooms ten dollars extra. The river steamers are compelled by 
law to carry a doctor. Ours was a native, and the captain was from 
Curacao. 

Our boat was in a side channel of the Magdalena, and had to go 
down about a mile before entering the main stream. This side 
channel was evidently the laundry for the town. The washerwomen 
waded out from its shores up to their waists, and pounded their 
soiled clothes on half- submerged drift logs which were scattered 
along. When we entered the main stream, we turned short about 
and headed due south. We went along slowly ; the river was very 
high, muddy, and swift ; and, besides, we had lashed to our side 
a large lighter, or " bongo," filled with extra freight that we had 
to take up the river with us. The country was inundated in all 
directions, and no high land was in sight. We saw thousands of 
water-birds of many kinds : white herons and egrets ; large gray and 
black herons (Arclea cocoi), somewhat like our blue heron ; a species 
of large tern, its body and tail appearing whitish, and its primaries, 
in strong contrast, black [Phdethusa magnirostris). This tern we 
found abundant for four hundred miles up the river. The river 
was so high that no sand-bars were exposed, else we would have 
seen numbers of alligators ; however, before dark we saw a few large 
ones on some logs. The native name is " cayman." I was told 
that there were several species. Shooting at them from the steamers 
was prohibited by law some years ago, owing to careless shooting 
by which a native woman on shore was killed ; but our captain 
gave us permission to shoot when we got farther up the river. 



52 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



There is a good deal of ceremony at meal-times ; no one takes 
a seat before the captain, and no one rises until he gives the signal. 
Should any one wish to rise before, he says, speaking to those 
present, " con su permiso," by your leave. The meals are served 
hurriedly by barefooted Indian boys, and were not so bad as we 
had been led to expect. There are but two meals a day, though 




LAUNDRY AT BAREANQUILLA. 



coffee is served soon after daybreak. The bill of fare is about 
the same for every meal, soup, beef and vegetables, " dulce " or 
sweets, which usually consists of some . fruit such as green figs 
or "guayaba" skins, etc., boiled in syrup and served with coffee or 
chocolate and cheese. There was neither fresh butter nor milk. 
In every possible dish garlic is used and the majority of the dishes 
are colored yellow with arnatto. The vegetables are rice, potatoes, 



THE MAGDALENA RIVER. 



yucca, plantains (boiled and 
fried), and " names," or yams 
as we would call them, though 
they are entirely different from 
the sweet potato to which we give 
that name. The meat is always 
in slices and is fried or stewed. 
Roasts, joints, etc., are unknown. 
The climate would not allow a 
roast to be kept for even a few 
hours. I witnessed one morning 
the preparation of the meat for 
the day. The cow was quickly 
killed and skinned, then the flesh 
was literally taken off in ribbons 
until nothing but the bones were 
left. These ribbons were wound 
around slender rods, taken to the 
upper deck, and exposed in the 
sun. In a few hours they became 
like pieces of sole leather. This 
is called "tasajo" or jerked beef. 
Before being- cooked it is soaked 
and beaten to soften it. The in- 
testines, head, and bones of the 
cow were turned over to the crew 
of the bongo, who ate all with 
relish, including the poor animal's 
unborn calf. 

Artificial ice is carried on the 
up trip, but gives out about the 
fourth day. Filtered river water 
is used for drinking, and is fairly 
good. The pilots are Indians, 
usually old men, and are treated 




THE MAGDALENA VALLEY TO HONDA. 



54: 



A FLYIXG TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



with great respect by the rest of the crew. There are no charts, 
lighthouses, or buoys, and the water to the inexperienced eye looks 
the same in all parts of the river, yet the channel is continually 
changing and the pilots can tell at a glance when to cross from one 

side to the other, 
and when to keep 
in the centre. The 
boat stops three or 
four times a day to 
take on wood, which 
is piled up along 
the shore at conven- 
ient places and sold 
to the steamers by 
the owners. There 
are no wharves at 
any place along the 
river. The boat 
simply runs up to 
the shore, makes 
fast to a convenient 
tree, and puts out a 
gang-plank. The 
wood used for fuel 
must be dry. It is 
cut into lengths of 
two feet, stacked in 
regular piles divided by upright stakes into small units called 
"burros," which I suppose means a donkey-load. The price paid 
is about fifty cents paper per burro. The wood is loaded by the 
crew, who bring it on board on their shoulders, using a rope fas- 
tened around one wrist and held in the other hand to increase the 
amount that they can embrace. They also usually wear a piece of 
bagging over their head and shoulder as a protection against scor- 




COCOA PALMS ALONG THE MAGDALENA. 



THE MAGDALEN A RIVER. 



55 



pious and insects that might be in the wood. This loading was a 
tedious process. 

We also stopped a few times each day at little mud and thatch 
villages to take on or put off freight. The stops are of intermin- 
able length ; no one seems in any hurry ; after the freight is off 
or on they must have an hour's chat before starting, and when the 
signal sounds to start, the crew and passengers have gone off to 




STOP AT BANCO. 



make purchases or to trade, and must be waited for, so we really 
spend as much time in waiting as in traveling. We ran all night; 
but higher up the river, on account of snags and sand-bars, we had 
to tie up at night. It was fearfully hot, especially in the early part 
of the night, when it was almost unbearable in the little staterooms. 



56 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

The majority of the passengers moved their cots out and slept on 
deck under heavy mosquito nets. Among- the passengers we were 
pleased to find Mr. Lindauer and his cousin, on their way to Bogota. 

Friday, June 24, 1892. We were up by daybreak, and after 
having a cup of coffee went out on deck. At this hour the air felt 
cool and fresh, and it was by far the pleasantest portion of the 
day. The country through which we were passing was much the 
same as that of the preceding day ; there were fewer cocoa palms 
and more mangoes and plantains along the shores. Magnificent 
unbroken forests stretched in all directions as far as the eye could 
reach. From time to time we passed little mud huts, thatched here 
with palms instead of rushes. 

The quantities of herons and other waterfowl that we saw were 
incredible, the most abundant being the little snowy heron, which 
fairly swarms along certain portions of the river. Whilst in Bar- 
ranquilla, I saw in one of the papers an advertisement of a New 
York dealer who offered to buy for cash the plumes of the snowy 
heron and of the white egret. It was accompanied by two wretched 
cuts of the birds with description of the manner of plucking and 
shipping the plumes. For those of the snowy heron he offered from 
$ 425 to $525 paper per pound, for those of the egret from $75 to 
$110 paper per pound. I was told that he had obtained somewhere 
near $10,000 worth of these plumes. As the snowy heron hardly 
ever has a dozen good plumes, and often only five or six, and as 
they have hardly any weight at all, one can easily imagine the num- 
bers of birds that must have been sacrificed to the whim of fashion. 

As we passed a marshy spot, we saw near the water's edge a herd 
of about a dozen reddish brown animals about the size of an aver- 
age pig. They were capybaras (Hydrochoerus capybara), the lar- 
gest of the rodent family. They paid no attention to our boat. 

A little farther on, we saw walking about on a grassy spot a 
couple of large birds, looking much like our turkey, but having 
their heads covered with white feathers (Chauna derbiana). 

Later in the day we saw a good many macaws, some green, blue, 



THE MAGDALEN A RIVER. 



57 



and scarlet {Ara aracanga), others blue above and yellow beneath 
(A. ararauna). This latter kind was the more abundant. They 
fly heavily, like our crows, and usually by twos. Their long tails are 
very conspicuous. Their harsh, discordant cries can be heard as far 
as they can be seen, and were usually the first noises that we heard 
in the early mornings. We saw quantities of wild ducks of several 
kinds. Very often, when the flocks were near the forest, they flew 
up into the trees when first alarmed. The largest kind, black with 
white wing-spots, is called by the natives "pato real," royal duck, 




CAPYBABA (hYDBOCHCERUS CAPYBAEA). 

(From "Riverside Natural History," by permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co.) 



and is our muscovy (Cairina moschata). Another species, with 
brown bodies and red beaks, stood in rows like soldiers along the 
sand-bars (Dendrocygna sp.). I saw three kinds of kingfishers, all 
in general appearance similar to our belted kingfisher. The largest, 
which was larger than ours, was chestnut-red on the entire under 



58 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

surface, including that of the wings ( Ceryle torquata) ; the next in 
size was marked like ours, but was glossy green instead of blue 
( C. aniazona) ; the third was a miniature of the second, about the 
size of a large sparrow (C. americana). We saw all three kinds 
enter and come out from holes in the river-banks. The first two 
were very abundant, the third scarcer. We saw quantities of hawks 
and large flocks of parrakeets, and I saw a single water-turkey or 
snake-bird {Anhinga anhinga) flying high in the air. When the 
crew were taking on wood at one place, they killed a couple of 
slender snakes which were among the lower courses, but they were 
thrown into the water before I could examine them. 

In the afternoon, whilst we were stopping at a small village, a 
native came up with a lot of fish in a dug-out canoe. They were 
of two kinds : the first, a scale fish somewhat like a perch and of 
about one pound in weight, he called " boca chica," little mouth ; 
the other, a slender catfish, a " bagre," had the same smooth skin, 
fleshy dorsal fin and beards that ours has, but its head was pro- 
longed into a shovel shape almost like a duck's bill {Platy- 
stoma sj).). 

It was cloudy at times and hot, with a heavy storm at night. 

Saturday, June 25, 1892. When I went out on deck this morn- 
ing, I found that we were unloading freight at the town of Ma- 
gangue. This is quite a busy little place, known for its annual 
fairs. It lies in a strip along the river-bank with no high land 
near. At this time many of the cross streets were flooded for a 
portion of their length, and our boat lay alongside the sidewalk. 
In a native canoe here I saw a skin very much like that of our otter. 
The owner called it a " nutria," which is the Spanish for otter. 

A short distance below Magangue the Magdalena separates into 
two portions, inclosing a long island. Magangue is on the western 
channel some leagues below the mouth of the Cauca. On the east- 
ern channel is the town of Mompos, which was formerly of more 
importance, but now, being inaccessible by steamers during the sea- 
son of low water, it has lost a good deal. Upon leaving Magangue, 



THE MAGDALEN A RIVER. 59 









MAGANGUE FROM THE RIVER. 



we returned to the forks of the river, where we picked up our bongo, 
which had been left there during the night, and then headed for 
Mompos. 

About ten o'clock we stopped for an hour for wood, and Cabell 
and I took advantage of this to go ashore with a gun. Within fifty 
yards of the boat we found a small tree covered with fringy-looking 
flowers, and around these some hiimmingr-birds were feeding-. In a 
few minutes we killed six, two of one kind and four of another. 
The first were of moderate size, bills broad at the base, reddish with 
dark tips. They were green above, throats metallic green, under 
parts ashy, tail, including the upper and under coverts, rufous, the 
retrices with narrow bronze edgings (Amazilia fusicaudata). The 
second kind were green above, throats glittering green, lower part 
of breast grayish, a white patch on the belly, under tail coverts 



60 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 




AMAZILIA FUSCICAUDATA. 

(From Elliot.) 



oreen with gray edges, tail forked and blue-black, the two cen- 
tral feathers greenish (Cyanophaia goudoti). 

Near here, Cabell shot 
into a flock of parrakeets 
in a mango-tree, and killed 
three. They were different 
from the others that we had 
gotten, being smaller and 
of a brighter green, the 
alula principally blue, un- 
der wing-coverts light yel- 
low, upper coverts brown- 
ish green, an orange chin-spot, bill and feet flesh-color (Broto- 
gerys jugularis). There was a peculiar point on the inner web of 
the third primary. These little birds hang head downwards on the 
mangoes, and tear at the soft yellow pulp until nothing but the 
seed is left. When a flock is in a thick foliaged tree, although 
they may be very noisy, they are sometimes difficult to see, as their 
colors harmonize closely with those of the leaves. Cabell also shot 
an "azulejo" [Tanagra cana), a male in fair plumage. We 
caught here some beautiful butterflies, 
some morphos especially, large ones, 
brown beneath with round eye-like 
spots, and above rich azure. Others 
with swallow-tails were striped metallic 
green and black, and others scarlet 
and black. 

Throughout my stay in Colombia I 
had untold trouble in keeping butter- 
flies. There was a minute red ant on 
the boat which soon found anything to 
eat, and destroyed it in a few minutes. Some butterflies that I had 
put in a tin box the day before were nothing but fragments when 
I examined them. The only sure way is to put the box on a little 




CYANOPHAIA GOUDOTI. 

(From Elliot.) 



THE MAGDALEN A RIVER. 61 

pedestal in a basin of water, and to examine it every few hours to 
see that the water has not evaporated. After breakfast, we pre- 
pared our birds as the boat went along, shot at alligators from time 
to time, and tried fishing when the boat stopped, but got no bites. 
We saw birds in great abundance, and, among new ones, some laro-e 
green parrots. They, like macaws, fly in pairs ; but their manner 
of flight is as different as possible. They have a rapid, tremulous 
wing-beat, exactly like that of our leather-wing bat. Speaking of 
bats, there are a great many along the river, and at nightfall we 
saw them flying about close to the surface of the water. Some are 
much larger than ours, with longer and more pointed wings. 

Late in the afternoon we reached Mompos, and shortly after had 
the chagrin of seeing the mail-steamer, which left Barranquilla the 
day after we left, pass us on her way up. Mompos is an old town, 
with some ruins of an ancient cathedral. We bought here from 
Indian women who came on board some dulces, guava jelly, limes 
preserved in syrup, etc. An Indian offered to sell me for fifty 
cents a half -fledged blue and yellow macaw ; but whilst I was think- 
ing it over the bird uttered one of its horrible squawks, which 
decided me to do without it. It was apparently full-sized, and had 
a few blue feathers above, but below was naked. I saw in Mompos 
a leper, the first I had seen, although I had heard that there were 
many in the country. At a number of places along the river we 
saw a form of skin disease which was called " carate." In some 
cases the dark skins of the Indians were covered with light spots 
and blotches ; in others the spots were bluish black. The hands 
were more affected than other portions of the body. There was 
nothing malignant about this, simply a discoloration of the skin 
similar to scars left by scalding, without any contraction. 

We ran all night. It was hot during the day, and hotter at 
night. 

Sunday, June 26, 1892. We woke this morning early, at a 
place called Banco. It is a small village, with the usual cathedral, 
situated on a hill or bluff of red clay. There was a crowd of 



62 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

natives at the landing, with sleeping-mats and other articles for 
sale. Here I purchased for forty cents a large and prettily marked 
tiger-cat's skin. Later in the day we stopped several times for 
wood, and at one place we went ashore. We saw many wren- 
like birds, some resembling our Carolina wren, but as large as a cat- 
bird. Cabell shot a second " azulejo." During the day we had a 




CATHEDRAL AT BANCO. 



great many shots at alligators, but struck only a few. Among new 
birds I saw several small flocks of roseate spoonbills (Ajaja ajaja), 
and some immense flocks of wood ibises (Tantalus loculator). fit 
was clear and hot during the day, but cooled off a little at night, so 
that we could go to sleep without the preliminary Turkish bath. 
Cabell saw to-day, floating in the river, a dead snake about ten feet 
in length. 



THE MAGDALEN A RIVER. 



63 




COLOMBIAN SCREAMER (CHAUNA DERBIANA). 



(O 



\ 



Monday, June 27, 1892. Upon waking early I found that we 
were unloading at a little group of huts, and as I heard a great 
many birds, I hastily dressed and hurried ashore with my gun. 
Within a few yards of the boat I shot one of the medium-sized 
kingfishers, a male, marked like ours with a chestnut belt, but 
glossy green above (Ceryle amazona). I saw here a flock of little 



64 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

short-tailed parrakeets, as small as sparrows (JPsittacula conspicil- 
lata), and some little swallows about the size of our bank-swallow, 
with white bodies and dark wings (Tetchy cineta albiventris?). I 
had to hurry back to the boat before I could shoot any more, and 
on our way up the river I skinned the kingfisher. Later in the 
day we stopped again, and I went ashore, but found it so intensely 
hot that I soon came back. I saw here, with some chickens, a pair 
of the turkey-like birds that I had seen on the 24th. They had 
red legs, with long straight toes and claws, and spurs on the last 
joint of their wings. Their general plumage was black ; their 
faces white, with a red ring around the eyes, and a feathery horn 
on each side of the head (Uhauna derbiana). In the afternoon 
the boat stopped for wood, and we went ashore again. This time I 
got a fine pigeon, a male, as large as our domestic pigeon. It had 
a bluish rump, forehead, and throat, purplish back and wings, a 
metallic green nape, red feet, eyes, and lids (Columba mifina). I 
saw during the day several caracara eagles (Polyborus cheriway), 
and with my glass I could plainly see the brilliantly colored skin of 
their faces. All day long we saw enormous flocks of ducks, wood 
ibises, and parrakeets, and quantities of white herons, white egrets, 
cocoi herons, blue and yellow macaws, parrots, hawks, kingfishers, 
and a few fish-hawks (Pandion halicetus carolinensis). We fired 
many times at alligators, and saw some very large ones. We tied 
up to the shore at night, as the river had become too full of snags 
and bars to navigate except by daylight. We struck sand-bars 
twice in the afternoon, but fortunately got off easily. For the last 
two days we have had lovely views of blue mountains. To-day 
they were to the west of us. It was clear and very hot during the 
day ; but we had a shower at bedtime. 

Tuesday, June 28, 1892. We were up early, and at the first 
stop for wood went ashore with our guns. We found the land to 
be only a few inches above the level of the river, of a soft black 
mud, and near the water covered with a heavy growth of large 
canna-like plants, with red and yellow flowers. Around these were 



THE MAGDALEN A RIVER. 



65 



feeding some humming-birds, and Cabell shot a pair. They were 
larger than any that we had met before, and had long curved bills, 
the lower mandible yellow, the upper dark with a yellow streak on 
each side. Above they were metallic green, the upper tail-coverts 
with light buff edgings, the throat 
rufous, under parts buffy, central 
tail-feathers green with whitish 
tips, the others rufous with whit- 
ish tips and a blackish subtermi- 
nal bar. There was a light buff 
streak from the gape and another 
from behind the eye (Glaucis hir- 
suta). One of these, a female, 
had a number of white feathers 




GLAUCIS HIRSUTA. 



(From Elliot.) 



scattered among the green ones 
of the back. I shot here one of 

the rufous-tailed humming-birds (Amazilia fuscieaudata). From 
this place we pushed on about fifty yards, until we reached the 
edge of the forest, and here we found birds in abundance. Cabell 
shot first and killed a large bird nearly the size of our crow. This 
was a male. It had an oriole bill, black with a coral red tip, a 
light blue excrescence on each side at the base of the lower man- 
dible, a flesh-colored excrescence on its forehead, and light blue 
skin around and back of its eye. Its feet were crow-like and black. 
Its under parts, head, neck, and wings were black, the feathers of 
the neck with white bases. From its forehead sprung three long 
filamentous feathers. Its upper wing-coverts, scapulars, centre of 
its rump, and under tail-coverts were rich chocolate. Its tail was 
clear yellow with the exception of the two central feathers, which 
were black, and which in this specimen extended only halfway down 
to the tip of the tail (Gymnostinops guatimozinus). The natives 
called it an " oro pendola," gold hang-nest ; but they apply this 
name indiscriminately to all the oriole family that build pendent 
nests. About the same time I shot another, very similar in style 



66 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



and pattern of coloration, but of about half the size. This was a 
female, its bill plain ivory without excrescences, and the feathers on 
its crown only slightly prolonged, otherwise its coloration was the 
same [Ostinops decumanus). The two kinds Avere together in a 
lar^e strap-edinsf flock. Still later I shot a third, smaller yet, black 
with a black tail, a clear yellow rump, under tail-coverts, and wing- 
spot. Its bill, which was slightly curved, was a pinkish ivory, and 
the feathers of the crown were slightly prolonged (Cassicus flavi- 
crissus). This also, like the first two, had white bases to the 
feathers of the nape. These birds build together in communities. 
A number of times, along the river, we saw in large detached trees 
a dozen or more of their nests hanging like stockings from the 
extremities of the branches. As I shot the second, I heard the 




; v 






■W^A C 



"ORO PtNDOLA" (gYMNOSTINOPS GUATIMOZINUs). 




J. G-Keulemans del 



PSITTACULA CONSPICILLATA,!;^^ 3 ^ 5 ™ 3 -^ 01 ^ llth ' Londor 
Bl-u.e-r-umpe.cl Parrakeet . 



THE MAGDALEN A RIVER. 67 

harsh screams of some macaws ahead of me, so I pushed on through 
the trees, and got a long shot at one which fell screaming in a 
thorny jungle. I forced my way into it, and as I picked it up it 
bit my thumb until the blood streamed, and before I could choke 
it off I began to be afraid that my thumb would be cut in two. 
Its cries attracted its mate, which I also shot. They were smaller 
than any macaws that I had seen, and were in wretched plumage. 
Their general color was a grass-green, bluish about the head, a 
reddish brown stripe on the forehead, primaries blue above, reddish 
beneath, under wing-coverts scarlet, tail reddish at base, then green, 
then blue, but reddish beneath, skin of face white with lines of 
bristly black feathers, beak black, feet dark (Ara sever a). 

A little later I shot a pair of the small parrakeets that I had seen 
for several days past. They were miniature parrots, no larger than 
sparrows, a bright grass-green, with secondaries, upper and under 
wing-coverts, rump, and a ring around the eye a deep blue, beak 
and feet flesh-color (Psittacula conspicillata). 

I also shot a tanager, which the natives called a " cardinal." It 
was like our scarlet tanager in size and distribution of color, except 
that the scarlet, which was beautifully clear on the rump, grew 
darker towards the head until it became a dark garnet. The plu- 
mage was velvety, especially the black of the wings. The upper 
mandible was black, the lower a light horn-color (Hamjihocelus 
dimidiaius). Cabell then shot a small puff-bird about the size of 
our pewee, but with a larger head and weaker tail. Its upper man- 
dible was forked at the tip like that of the one that we shot at 
Barranquilla. It was black above, white below, with a black collar, 
white specks on the forehead, a white spot on the scapulars and a 
little white on the rump {Bucco subtectus). Just as we were getting 
on the boat, he shot a beautiful little bird about the size of our 
chipping- sparrow, glossy blue-black above, with a yellow forehead 
and bright yellow below (Euphonia crassirostris). This was a 
male, and in better plumage than any bird that we had gotten so 
iar. The female, as I found out later, is of a plain greenish yellow. 



<;,S A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

Aiter the boat started, I was busy £or several hours skinning the 
birds. The macaws were especially troublesome, as the skin of the 
neck refused to pass over the skull. 

in the afternoon the boat stopped again and we went ashore, but 
it, was so boiling hot that yery dew birds were stirring. Cabell, 
who was some distance ahead of me, tired, and as I came up he 
called out that he had killed a humming-bird as large as a tanager. 
Ii, was certainly a beautiful bird, and its metallic plumage and long 
bill gave it a slight resemblance to a humming-bird. It was a jaca- 
mar, brilliant metallic green and bronze above, including the two 
central tail-feathers. The remaining tail-feathers and the under 
parts were rufous. Its throat was white and was separated £rom the 
breast by a band of tin; same color as the back (Galbula ruficauda). 
I saw here a pair of toucans, and got a shot at one, but failed to get 
it or to see whether I had hit it or not. Its breast was dark red ; 
its other colors I could not distinguish. I also saw in the Borest a 
number of dark reddish squirrels with white l>ellies. They were the 
size of our gray squirrel and were extremely gentle, allowing me 
almost to touch them with my gun-barrel as they sat watching me. 
On my way hack to the boat a bird fluttered up Icrom the thick 
grass in front of me, and I got it hy a snap shot,, but my heavy 
choke-bore unfortunately spoiled it as a specimen. It was a species 
of whippoorwill, just, about the size of ours, and, like ours, had 
bristles along its gape. It had a white throat-patch, and beneath 
was marked just, like our night-hawk* but the ground color was 
more reddish brown. Its wings and tail were somewhat like a 
whippoorwill's, the wings with a light buffy spot on the primaries, 
lis back was mottled and the scapulars had buffy outer edges 
{Nyctidromua ctlbicollis). Several times at night along the river 
I heard the cry " whip-poor-will," and others very similar, hut I 
do not know what, bird uttered them. 

At this place the steward of the boat came up to me with two 

dirty white eggs just the size and shape of those of our yellow- 
hilled euekoo. Showing them to me, he said, "azul, azul" (blue, 



THE MAGDALENA in I m:. 69 

blue) and tyoino" off lie returned with a saucer <>!' wood ashes and a 
moist rag, and began to rub bhe eggs. In a shorl while all of the 
white disappeared and they became the color of a robin's egg, He 
said thai they wore the eggs of the ani. 

In the afternoon 1 shinned the birds, and wo shot a good many 
times at alligators. The river was now very crooked and swift and 
lull of sand-bars and snags, so at dusk wo tied up Tor the night. 
Ai this place wo saw two Long-tailed monkeysmake off through the 
treetops as wo came up- We saw quantities of birds all day, blue 
and yellow macaws, ducks, herons, ibises, parrakeets, spoonbills, etc. 

I was fighting red ants throughout the day, 'Tito few butter- 
flies that I had captured, 1 tried in every way to save. They wore 
nut in tin boxes with camphor, hut whenever they wore left Tor two 
hours 1 invariably Bound them literally swarming with ants, their 
heads and bodies eaten oil", and their wings coming to pieces. No- 
thing but putting them on a tumbler in a basin oi' water protected 
them. This was impracticable for bird-skins, and 1 was afraid that 
1 would lose them all. 1 put the skins in the tray of my trunk, 
which I suspended by strings from the ceiling, but by night 1 dis- 
covered the ants traveling up and down the strings in an unbroken 
column. After this 1 rubbed the strings with kerosene oil and car- 
bolic acid, and tied lumps of camphor to them, but the ants were 
not delayed in the slightest. 1 finally borrowed from the steward 
three soup-plates, which 1 tilled with water and placed in the centre 
of each a tumbler; on these three pedestals 1 put my tray, and the 
a ts were baffled at last. 

It was clear and very hot , especially in the early night, but we 
were not troubled by mosquitoes. 

Wednesday, dune 29, L892, Cabell was taken with a slight 
foyer last night, caused by going out in the hot sun yesterday after- 
noon, lie felt badly all day. so did not leave the boat. At our 
first stop, Lindauer and myself went ashore and killed a number of 
birds. I shot first a pair of the little blue-rumped parrakeets (JPsit- 
taculct COnspicillata), a male and female. The female is plain grass- 



70 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

green without any blue. In a marshy spot near a little stream, I 
shot one of the black and white birds that I had seen in the marshes 
at Barranquilla. It was a male, a little smaller than a pewee, white, 
with wings, tail, back of head, and centre of back black (Fluvi- 
cola pica). I also shot three more jacamars (G. ruficauda) and a 
puff-bird like the one we got at Barranquilla (B. ruficollis). Lin- 
dauer shot a couple of flycatchers ; the first, a male, smaller than 
our bee-martin, yellow below, brownish olive above, crown brown, 
with a large yellow and orange patch, white streak from nostrils 
above eye to back of head, and throat white (Myiozetetes cay- 
ennensis) ; the second, a female, about the size of our great-crested 
flycatcher, plumbeous above, a small orange crown-patch, throat and 
breast grayish, and below light yellow (Tyrannus melancholicus). 
He also shot a most peculiar and beautiful little bird, a male in fine 
plumage. It was about the size of a wren, but with an extremely 
short and awkward-looking tail. Its leg's were white with a scarlet 
ring above the tarsus, its head rich golden yellow becoming orange 
with traces of scarlet at the back. The rest of its plumage was 
glossy blue-black. Its eyes were white with fine red lids, and 
its bill light yellow [Pipra auricapilla). At this place I saw a 
flock of certainly five hundred of the orange- chinned parrakeets 
(Brotogerys jugularis) in a mango-tree near the boat. 

After leaving this place, we stopped no more uutil we tied up for 
the night ; so I spent the rest of the day in skinning the birds and 
shooting at alligators. Every sand-bar, or " playa " as they are 
called, was sure to have a number on it. They generally lie in the 
sun with their mouths wide open, the upper jaw making an angle 
of forty-five degrees with the lower. When shot at, they sometimes 
slid off into the water like terrapins from a log ; but when they 
were well up on the playa, they rose deliberately to their feet and 
walked off, their bodies looking as high from the ground as that of 
a dos". 

All day long the river was very crooked ; there were bluffs of 
red clay along the shores ; the country was not so marshy, and we 



THE MAGDALEN A RIVER. 



71 








LOOKING DOWN THE MAGDALENA FROM BANCO. 



saw no clucks or white egrets, but numbers of macaws, parrots, 
kingfishers, and wood ibises. The doctor gave Cabell a sudorific, 
and at night he was much better. We spent a very hot night, 
tormented by mosquitoes. 

Thursday, June 30, 1892. We made an early start this morn- 
ing, and did not stop until we reached Puerto Berrio, about ten 
o'clock. This is a village on the western bank of the Magdalena, 
and is the starting-point for the Antioquia Railroad, which is des- 
tined to reach Medillin, the capital of the department of Antioquia, 
but which now terminates at Pavas, about twenty-five miles from the 
river. Here Lindauer and myself went ashore with the guns. Cabell, 
although feeling well, thought it best to keep out of the sun. We 
went back a short distance along the railroad track ; but it was 




72 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

rather late in the clay for the birds to be stirring, so we saw only a 
few. I got two new ones : the first a tanager, a male jnst the size 
of the "cardinal." It was velvety black, with a beautifully clear 
yellow rump, its bill light horn-color with darker cutting edges 
[Rampliocelus icteronotus). The second Avas a humming-bird, a 

female, green above, the rump and tail- 
feathers bronzy, the lateral tail-feathers 
growing- darker towards the ends and 
tipped with white. Below it was gray- 
ish, with a few metallic green and bine 
feathers on the throat (Polyerata ama- 
bilis). The natives call humming-birds 
" chupa flores," flower-suckers, and some- 
times " pica flores." Several hours later 
polyerata amabilis. - m ^ e c i ^ k^ s t pp e d again and we 

(From Elliot.) J . 

went ashore, but it was too scorching hot 
for anything to be stirring. I shot a large oriole, about the size 
of our robin, with a black beak, face, chin, and wings, and black 
and yellow tail, the rest of the plumage yellow. It was in such 
poor plumage that I did not preserve it, so now have to regret not 
being able to identify it. 

On my way back to the boat I saw up a small tree what I thought 
was a very large snake, but upon closer examination I found it to 
be an iguana, which I shot and carried back with me. It was forty- 
three inches in length, the greater part of this being taken up by its 
tail, which tapered to a point and was striped with broad bands of 
gray and black. Its body, which was about the size of our rabbit's, 
was green with black marks. Along its back was a row of leath- 
ery spines (longer than in the species figured), and beneath its 
throat was a pouch or dewlap. I skinned its body, and got one of 
the bongo men to cure the skin for me by rubbing it with wood- 
ashes. Its flesh, which is eaten by the natives, looked good, and I 
noticed that it had the same odor as that of our bull-frog. At this 
place there were a few Indian huts, and around them a small grove 



THE MAGDALENA RIVER. 



73 



of cacao-trees, from which chocolate is made. They were not 
over twenty-five feet high, smooth barked and big leaved. The fruit 
looked very much like an oblong warty squash, and grew close to 
the main trunk and large limbs. They were about eight inches 
long, some green, others a deep purplish red, and when cut open 
showed a white pith in which were imbedded bean-like seeds the 
size of our lima beans but thicker. These, when ripe, are taken 




IGUANA TUBEECULATA. 



out, roasted, and then ground between two stones, mixed with 
coarse sugar, and the result is chocolate. Hung up against one of 
the huts to dry, I saw several peccary skins of the plain unhanded 
species (Bicotyles labiatus). I was told that they were common in 
the forest here. 

Lower down along the river the native huts are made of a wattle 
of split bamboo, or small sticks, daubed with mud and thatched 
with palm-leaves (see page 55), but here the walls are made in a 



74 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

different manner. The large cane or bamboo, the " guaduas," which 
often is six inches in diameter, is taken and partially split in a 
number of places about an inch apart, after which the whole tube 
can be opened out, making a very rough plank from a foot to 
eighteen inches in width. These are lashed to the framework with 
bark or slender vines. We also saw many huts with nothing but 
a roof and the four corner posts, protection from the sun and rain 
being all that was required. 

The natives along the river are, as a rule, cleanly, amiable, inof- 
fensive, and very indolent. All carry the " machete," a long and 
heavy sword-like knife, which is the universal tool. It is about 
thirty inches long, sharp on one edge, the back being very thick, 
and the blade widens from the handle until near the point, where 
it is sometimes five inches broad, then tapers suddenly. It is used 
like a cleaver. Those that I saw were made in England and in 
the United States. They are sometimes carried in a heavy leather 
scabbard, sometimes in a small loop of leather tied around the waist. 
I saw a few axes, but they were all of the old Spanish pattern, like 
those shown in the old illustrations of " Eobinson Crusoe," the blade 
fan-shaped, with a ring at the back for the insertion of the handle. 

Notwithstanding the tremendous forests, lumber of all kinds is 
scarce and dear. There are few, if any, saw-mills ; boards are usu- 
ally sawn out by hand, and a plank ten feet long, a foot wide, and 
an inch thick sells for a dollar in gold. 

Although the natives are indolent, they can work, for the bongo 
men sometimes toil day after day under the broiling sun for a month 
or six weeks, poling their heavy bongos up the Magdalena. And, 
after all, a living comes so easily to them, their wants are so few 
and so easily supplied, that there is no incentive for them to work. 
When a native washes to set up a house for himself, he selects a con- 
venient spot along the river's bank, then with his machete cuts 
down the bushes and vines and girdles the larger trees over an acre 
or two, clears off the debris by fire, then plants a hundred plantain 
shoots. In a little over six months the plants will have fruit ready 



THE MAGDALENA RIVER. 



75 



for food. One bunch, which can be bought along the river for a 
real, will keep a man in food for ten clays. The plantains are eaten 
©Teen or ripe, boiled, baked, fried, or raw, and are a fair substitute 
for potatoes and bread. As soon as the bunch of fruit is cut off, 
the plant is cut down close to the ground, and it immediately puts 
up fresh shoots which bear again in six months, and so on. The 
natives call plantains " platanos," and bananas they call " platani- 
tos," little plantains. The bananas that we got in Colombia were 




A BONGO OK CHAMPAN ON THE MAGDALENA. 

(By permission of Bureau of American Republics.) 



among the most delicious of fruits. They were small, with a skin 
as thin as a kid glove, and of an exquisitely delicate flavor, incom- 
parably superior to those that we have. These will not bear 
transportation. From seeing the bunches before our fruit stores, I 
had always thought that bananas grew pendent on the bunch, but 
they grow with their free ends pointing up. The natives raise a 
little corn, but there is no systematic method of planting or cultivat- 
ing it. The difference in cultivation is shown by the ears, on which 
the grains are irregularly distributed, and not in long parallel 
rows as in our corn. As there are no mills, they grind the little 



76 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



Corn that they need between two stones, the same two stones that are 
used in making" chocolate and also in grinding coffee. The river 
supplies them with fish and turtle in abundance, and they easily 




.■ •■ \- ■'«. 



CITRON-BKEASTED TOUCAK. 



trap different birds near their huts. They need but few clothes, 
they raise enough tobacco for their own use, and the native rum, 
" aguardiente,' ' costs about the same as our cider. Their household 
furniture is limited to a few hammocks, two or three earthenware 



THE MAGDALENA RIVER. 77 

pots, and a supply of calabashes and turtle shells which serve as 
dishes and spoons. 

In the afternoon we came to a portion of the river called " An- 
gostura," or narrows, very narrow and swift, where even with a full 
head of steam we barely crept along-. Here I saw a great many 
turtles and alligators, large flocks of macaws, and some roseate 
spoonbills. Late in the afternoon we stopped for wood and I went 
ashore, but did not take my gun. Lindauer took one of the gams, 
and in a few minutes returned with two new birds. The first was 
a very fine toucan, a female in good plumage. It was about the size 
of our crow, had a very large, finely serrate beak which was bril- 
liantly colored with black, white, green, blue, and yellow. Its eye 
and the skin of its face were a beautiful peacock-blue, its feet light 
blue. Its general color was black, breast, throat, and face light yel- 
low, becoming white on the cheeks, and separated from the black of 
the under parts by a bright red belt. Its tail was black and square, 
the upper coverts yellow, the lower bright red (Rampliastos citreo- 
Icemus. (See frontispiece.) The second was a parrot, the size of 
a small pigeon, a female in poor plumage. Its beak was black with 
a coral-red spot on each side, general plumage green, and head 
and neck blue, ear-coverts black, a few rosy feathers among the 
blue of lower throat, the four central tail-feathers green with blue 
tips, the others blue, rosy at the base. The under coverts were 
pink with blue stems and yelloAv tips, the edge of the wing pink 
and yellow (Pionus menstruus). I found both the toucan and 
parrot difficult to skin on account of the smallness of the neck. 
The colors of the beak and skin of the toucan faded in a few hours. 
The nostrils of the toucan were not in the beak proper, but in the 
crease between the base of the beak and the frontal feathers. The 
"pope's nose" of the toucan was longer than that of any bird that 
I have skinned, and it is so freely jointed that the bird can move its 
tail in any position. It is owing to this structure that when roosting' 
the toucan can turn its tail over to cover its back and head. 

The boatmen killed in the woodpile here a scorpion, plain olive- 



78 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



o-reen in color, and the size of a small fiddler crab. We tied up 

for the night. It was hot, but we were not troubled by mosquitoes. 

Friday, July 1, 1892. We made an early start and did not 

stop until late in the forenoon, when it was too hot to find many 



birds. 



I went ashore and killed a curved-billed humming-bird like 




COLLARED ARACARI (PTEROGLOSSCS TORQUATUs). 

those that we had shot on June 28 [Glaucis hirsuta), and a pair 
of new toucans, smaller than the one that Lindauer killed. Their 
tails were longer and the feathers graduate like those of our cuckoo. 
Their beaks were deeply serrate, the upper mandible yellowish 
white with a black tip, a black streak on top, and a reddish mark at 
the side of base ; the lower mandible black, and both bordered at the 



THE MAGDALEN A BIVEB. 79 

base by a white line. The skin of the face was scarlet, the eyes 
yellow, and the feet olive-green. The head and throat were blue- 
black, a brown collar at the back of neck ; back, wings, and tail 
greenish black, rump scarlet, below yellow, orange on the breast, a 
black spot in centre of the breast, and lower a black and red belt, 
the thighs brown (Pteroglossus tor quotas). Both were females 
in poor plumage. Their tongues were bristly, like a worn-out 
feather. The remainder of the day I did but little. 

The river-banks became higher and gravelly, the water much 
colder, and fewer alligators were seen. We dropped our bongo, so 
made better time, and taking advantage of the moonlight, we ran 
until nine o'clock, and finally tied up about fifteen miles below 
Yeguas, our destination. It was very hot all day, but cooled a little 
after sunset. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 

Saturday, July 2, 1892. We made an early start, but stopped 
for wood a few miles below Yeguas. I was busy getting our bag- 
gage together, but went ashore at this place. I saw no birds, but 
found scattered about over the ground a number of land shells, 




LAND SHELL FROM NEAR YEGUAS. 



white, with rosy lips, the largest that I had ever seen, larger than 
lemons, some being four inches long {Bulimus oblongus, Mull.). 
I brought back several with me. I was told that the animal inhab- 
iting these shells lays an egg much similar in size, shape, and color 
to the eggs of the little ground dove. Shortly after I came on 



THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 



81 




(From " Riverside Natural History," by permission of Houghton, 
Mifflin & Co.) 



board, some of the men came down 

to the boat, dragging a very large 

rattlesnake, which they had just 

killed near the spot where I had 

picked up the shells. It was not 

so brightly colored as those that we have in Virginia, but was rusty 

brown, with a series of dull yellowish, diamond-shaped marks along 

its back. The native name for rattlesnake is " cascabel." 

Just before reaching Yeguas the river becomes very rapid, and 
curves to the left for almost half a circle. Yeguas, which is on the 
western bank, is a collection of four or five bamboo and thatch 
huts upon the top of a gravelly bank, some twenty feet above the 
water. One of these huts serves as a station for the Dorada Rail- 
road, which runs from here to Honda, about fourteen miles above. 
We arrived at ten o'clock, just half an hour too late for the morn- 
ing train, so were compelled to wait on board until half past three. 
The road is narrow gauge, the cars small and not very clean, and 
the country hot and dusty. At Yeguas the character of the coun- 
try changes abruptly, the heavy forests disappear; their place is 
taken by level plains, good examples of geological terraces, with 
here and there high, flat-topped, and barren hills. The strata in 
the hills lie horizontally, and erosion has produced the same style 
of landscape as seen in many pictures of Arizona. Upon leaving 



82 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



Yeguas, the train first goes up a steep incline, until it gets upon the 
level terrace, where it runs for some time at a fair rate of speed. 
This plain is in parts several miles broad, covered with a very rank 
sort of grass or broom straw ; and scattered here and there are 
clumps of palms. A great many cattle were feeding about. Along 
here on the telegraph poles I saw a number of small hawks, appar- 
ently the same as our sparrow-hawk, and some large buzzards, 
larger, perhaps, than our red-tailed hawk, with dark reddish brown 
wings (Heterospizias meridionalis ?). 

After going about five miles, we heard a great whistling and 

tooting of the engine, and looking out saw 
that we had just run over a cow. Instead 
of stopping the train, the engineer tried 
to pull it over the cow ; so, after she had 
been dragged several hundred yards, and 
had rolled from one car to another, until 
she reached the centre of the train, the 
rear wheels of a truck were thrown from 
the track, and we had to stop. By the 
help of two wedge-like inclined planes of 
steel, the car was gotten back with but 
little delay ; but the poor animal was 
found with her neck wedded between the 
wheels of the following car. After trying 
in vain for fifteen minutes to back or pull 
the rest of the train over the body, they 
concluded to take an axe and cut off her 
head, after which she was pulled out, load- 
ed up on a flat, and we went ahead. 

A few miles below Honda, the moun- 
tains, which here are barren, dusty, precipitous, and furrowed with 
gullies and ravines, close in on the river until it is shut in in a 
deep gorge. At Honda, there flows into the Magdalena from the 
west the Guali, a small, swift, and extremely muddy stream of 




% HONDA 



THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 83 

some thirty yards in width ; and a few hundred yards above, a 
second and smaller stream comes in. Between these there is a 
comparatively level terrace which widens considerably as one o-oes 
back from the river, and on this and along the river-shore the town 
is built. 

We reached Honda about five, and went at once to the best hotel, 
a very neat one kept by two Englishmen, Messrs. Bowden and Will- 
cox. It was a positive luxury, after being cramped up on the 
steamer for so many days, to get into a clean and spacious room, to 
find cots with clean sheets, and above all to have clean and appetiz- 
ing food. After seeing that Alice was comfortably fixed, Cabell 
and I went out to call upon our consul, Mr. Henry Hallam, and to 
take a look at the town. We did not find Mr. Hallam, but at his 
office was a cablegram, sent from New York the preceding day, 
saying that all were well at home. 

The town is not of much size, and offers nothing of especial 
interest. It is said to be the hottest place on the river, and deserves 
its reputation. It is shut in by the parched and baked mountains, 
and the few breezes that stir feel like blasts of hot air from a fur- 
nace. The houses are of the usual type, some thatched, some tiled. 
Through the enterprise of Mr. Hallam, water has lately been 
brought into the town. This gentleman has also established a line 
of wagons running Avestward to Mariquita over the terraces of the 
valley of the Guali. I mention this as wheeled vehicles are prac- 
tically unknown throughout the interior of Colombia. I was told 
that the muddiness of the Gauli was due to the hydraulic working 
of gold mines near its head-waters. This river was in former times 
spanned near its mouth by a ponderous masonry bridge of two 
arches, but this was destroyed by the earthquake of 1805, and now 
there is a fair iron bridge thrown across from the old abutments, 
and a short distance above there is a second bridge of wood. In 
the upper members of this iron bridge several large swallows 
had their nests. The centre pier of the original bridge remains, 
twisted to one side, and leaning up-stream. There are in the 



84 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 






f: 




'£**• %2'" " 



RUINS OF BRIDGE OVER THE GUALI DESTROYED BY EARTHQUAKE. 

town the ruins of a large cathedral which was destroyed at the 
same time. 

The Magclalena here is very swift, the rapids in front of the town 
being like those below Niagara Falls, and it is of course impassable 
for steamers ; but above the rapids there are some small steamers, 
running irregularly, which have at times continued the navigation of 
the river almost, if not quite, as far as the town of Neiva. 

We saw piled up near the railroad station many small bags filled 
with a heavy sand-like silver ore, intended for shipment to England. 
Along the streets I saw a number of men with bad-looking ulcers 
about their ankles and shins, and a few with elephantiasis, a form 
of leprosy in which the ankle thickens enormously. 

We were so pleased with our hotel that we thought of waiting 
here for several days to recuperate, but about dusk Lindauer came 



THE MULE BO AD AND GUADUAS. 



85 



in to say that he would leave for Bogota early the next morning, 
and that his muleteer had enough mules to supply us also, so we 
concluded to go on, and accordingly sent our trunks on ahead, so 
that they could be gotten across the river before we started. It was 
clear and 1 ot. 

Sunday,, July 3, 1892. For the last five or six days on the river 
we had been without ice, and for a refreshing drink had taken a 
great deal of lemonade made from the limes, or " limones," that 
were found in abundance at every village. This had somewhat 
upset me, so I was not feeling particularly well ; however, we had a 
light breakfast at six, and started soon after. There was no train 
running, so we had to walk up to the ferry at Arranca Plumas, 
about a mile above the town. It was the ordinary swing ferry ; a 




SWING FERRY AT ARRANCA PLUMAS. 

(After Millicnn.) 



86 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

wire cable is stretched across the river, and on this a pulley runs. 
The boat, a large flat lighter, is fastened diagonally to the pulley, 
and the force of the current carries it across. It usually stops about 
twenty feet from the shore, aud is hauled in the rest of the way by 
a rope thrown out from the landing. Once across, we scrambled up 
a steep and rough bank of loose pebbles and sand to a little ledge 
some thirty feet up the mountain-side, where there were four or five 
miserable bamboo and thatch huts. These, although their thresh- 
olds were on a level with the road, were thirty feet from the 
ground at the back, and supported on rickety bamboo poles. The 
floors were of split bamboo with cracks through which one's foot 
might easily slip. In these huts were sold various drinks and some 
dirty food for those whom hunger compelled to eat there. In front 
of them were great heaps of boxes and bales on their way to the 
interior. This is the terminus of the high-road to Bogota, a city 
that now claims over one hundred thousand inhabitants. 

Of course, our trunks had not gotten across after all, and when 
they were finally over, the mules had not arrived, and when the 
mules came, we were two hours in loading. Whilst waiting here, 
we took a poor breakfast to fortify ourselves for the road ahead of 
us. In the trees just at the landing I saw several large flocks of 
the orange-chinned parrakeets. 

Our trunks were lashed with ropes of raw hide, one on each side 
of the little mules, and smaller parcels were put between. If the 
trunks did not balance, the lighter one was made heavier by tying 
stones to it. The mules have no other harness than a pair of 
pillow-like pads, which are furnished with both breast-straps and 
breeching. When all are loaded, they are started off by the drivers, 
or " arrieros," who follow on foot, keep the herd moving, and drive 
in the stragglers. The arrieros keep up a continual whooping and 
whistling, so that the mules may know that they are close behind, 
applying to them a choice selection of epithets, — " animalito," 
" mula del diabolo," etc. The loads are continually slipping, and 
when they slip must be rearranged at once. The arrieros are very 



THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 87 

dexterous at this. They throw their poncho over the mule's head, 
to blindfold it, and it stands perfectly quiet until the poncho is 
removed. They go along at a pretty good rate, but it is pitiful 
to see the little creatures staggering under two enormous pack- 
ing-boxes as large as themselves. Often, when they get a chance 




PACK-MULE WITH TKUNKS AND SLEEPING-MATS. 

to stop, they lie down at once, and then cannot rise without the 
help of the arriero, who is certain to add blows to his aid. At 
numbers of places along the road we saw bones where the poor 
animals had died on the way. In this manner all freight is carried 
to and from Bogota. We met a great many trains on their way 
down to the river. Some came unloaded, to carry back freight, but 
the greater part brought down bales of hides or bags of coffee. 

We finally mounted and started off shortly after eleven, leaving 
the baggage to follow on. Alice and I rode horses ; the rest were 
mounted on mules. The saddle, bridle, etc., are spoken of collec- 
tively in Spanish as " la montura." Our saddles had large horns, 
and were furnished with breast-straps as well as with both crupper 



88 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

and breeching. The bridles and bits were very heavy, the stirrups 
of brass and shaped like a Turkish slipper. The men. when riding, 
wear enormous spurs and a kind of leggings called " zamorras," 
something like the baggy rubber leggings used among us. They 
are made of canvas, rubber-cloth, or of leather, and are buckled 
together at the waist, thus forming a pair of trousers without a 
seat. Some that 1 saw were made of puma-skins. They are so 
voluminous that they completely cover the rider's feet, and when 
he dismounts thev look like an awkward skirt and interfere with 




ADJUSTING LOAD ON PACK-MUHB. 



his walking. (See page 97.) 'or the first two miles the road. 
ascending slowly, ran along* the river to the south over what was 
once the beginning" of a railroad. The embankments had washed 
away in many places, the cuts had caved in. and at one spot we 



THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 89 

passed a dilapidated old locomotive rotting away, with weeds grow- 
ing" over the hoiler. This road was to have reached Booota, but 
the funds gave out with the first two miles. At the end of this 
we turned in abruptly to our left and began a steep ascent, zig- 
zagging in and out of the gulley-like ravines that ran down to the 
river. When near the crest of the first ridge, the road ran over 
a rocky surface which seemed to me impassable. It sloped up at 
an angle of about forty-five degrees, but the feet of the mules had 
worn little pocket-like steps in the stone, and our animals went up 
without a slip. At the top we went through a narrow gorge, then 
along over comparatively level ground for a short distance, then up 
and through a second gorge so narrow that my stirrups scraped the 
sides, and down and across a rough valley several miles wide. This 
valley was hot and dry, but in the centre we crossed quite a large 
stream flowing to the south, and on the farther side we followed up 
the partly dry bed of another watercourse until we struck the foot 
of the first heavy range. Here the worst part of the road began. 

All travelers in Colombia, from the time of Humboldt to the 
present day, have commented upon this road from Honda to Bogota, 
and all agree in calling it superlatively bad ; but none have done 
it justice. In my limited experience I had been over some of the 
worst roads in the western part of North Carolina and in West 
Virginia, and I could not conceive that roads could be worse, but 
they are pleasant drives compared to this. I am powerless to de- 
scribe it, and the photographs which I took on my return trip give 
no idea of the steepness of the road, since I had to point my camera 
either uphill or downhill, and thus the perspective of the slope 
was lost. In former times this road had been paved with blocks of 
stone, some of them as large as pillows. This pavement was in some 
places intact, but in a great many places it had been destroyed. To 
get a faint idea of the unpaved portion, conceive the dried-up bed 
of a rocky stream, filled with stones from the size of a barrel down, 
placed upon a hillside with a slope as steep as a roof. The paved 
parts were even worse on account of the slippery foothold that they 



90 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

afforded our animals. On the opposite page is an alleged view of a 
portion of this road, but I will venture to say that the artist was 
never in Colombia, 01 never saw even a photograph of* tins road. 




oliTION OF I'AVKJ) KOAI> TO IMHiOTA. 



I have introduced it simply to show what is the generally accepted 
idea of South American roads. The cut on page 241 of Mr. Wil- 
liam E. Curtis's work, on " The Capitals of Spanish America," is 
much more like the true state of the case. The road went up the 



■Hk 



.n. 








. 



l!(t.\i> TO BOGOTA. 
(By pormiMion of Burcuu oi Ainorloan RcpuliHci.) 



92 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

almost perpendicular crests of the foothills, zigzagging back and 
forth at every ten yards, the pavement being built in steps up which 
the poor mules toiled. After about three hours' climbing, we 
stopped for rest at Las Cruces, a mud and thatch inn on the right 
of the road. We found the air here decidedly cooler. Here I got 
some good oranges, and some green cocoanuts which were not nearly 
so o-ood as those that we had found at Barranquilla. The country 
through which we had passed to this point was parched and in some 
places almost barren, being covered with a coarse grass and cactus ; 
but farther on we struck the forest, and found little cool streams 
crossing the road, and everything was fresher. I saw in the valley 
many beautiful butterflies (some morphos especially being of large 
size and brilliant color), a few humming-birds, and several flocks of 
the blue-rumped parrakeets. iter about three quarters of an hour's 
rest, we started again, and found the road growing steadily steeper 
and worse, and shortly after four o'clock we stopped at a second 
inn, Consuelo (consolation), where we concluded to spend the 
nio-ht. We were still half an hour from the summit, with the worst 
of the road ahead of us • but although we had traveled only five 
hours, we all felt somewhat used up, partly on account of the heat 
and partly because of the roughness of the road. The view from 
this place was magnificent. We were up between five and six 
thousand feet, and could see across the valley of the Magdalena 
to the distant range of the Cauca. We found the air and water 
much cooler, and needed blankets at night. Alice and I were given 
a little room in which were two wooden frames with cowhides 
stretched over them for beds. These we found to be swarming 
with fleas, bedbugs, and a kind of flying roach an inch and a half 
long, so we spent a wakeful night, tormented by bites. The rest 
of our party were given cots in the main room. 

The landlord, Don Clemente Mejija, kept a blank book, by way 
of hotel register, in which his various guests had indulged in their 
fondness for poetry by writing, above their names, verses in praise 
of the host and of his hospitality, or by giving vent to the emotions 



THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 



93 



inspired by the sublimity and beauty of the view of the distant 
mountain ranges. 

In the yard in rear of the house was chained a long-tailed mon- 
key, black with a white face, and there was also a cage of dull col- 
ored thrushes, marked somewhat like a newly fledged robin, but not 
quite so large. Don Clemente had a tame troupial which was 
allowed perfect liberty, but which came from the forest when 
called. 

On the road we passed many peons bent under heavy loads of 




ON THE ROAD TO GUADUAS. 



over one hundred pounds, the weight being supported partly on 
their shoulders and partly by a strap passed across their foreheads. 
It was clear and hot. 

Monday, July 4, 1892. We were up early this morning. As I 
was feeling worse, we decided to go on only as far as the next town, 



94 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



Guaduas, and stop there, but as Lindauer was going to push ahead, 
he said good-by to us, and hurried on. We had a light breakfast, 
and started off about eight. Alice was very nervous about the 
road, and walked a good part of the way to the summit and down 
the other side. We reached the crest about nine, going up some 
places worse than a staircase, and just before reaching the top, 

through a deep and 
crooked gorge not 
wide enough for 
two animals to pass. 
I saw here the use 
of the brass slip- 
per-shaped stirrups. 
In turning sharp 
angles, my feet 
were often pressed 
against the stones 
at my sides, and 
without these stir- 
rups the barefooted 
riders would have 
their feet injured. 
;Ve rode along the 
ridge for a few 
yards, and then be- 
gan the descent. 
At one place the crest was barely ten feet wide, and fell off abruptly 
on each side for several hundred feet. From this point the view 
was grand. Through the clouds across to the west we caught 
glimpses of the perpetual snow on the Peak of Tolima and the snow 
fields of the Paramo del Ruis. To our left, to the southeast, lay 
Guaduas in the valley below us. It looked very near, but Ave were 
two and a half hours in reaching it. We went obliquely down the 
side of the mountain, and found the road not so bad as on the other 




" A DEEP AND CROOKED GOttGE 



THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 



95 



side except at one place near the foot of the descent, where it ran 
over a hard stone lying in strata, which sloped in the same direction 
as the surface of the soil, so it was like riding along on a roof with 
no foothold for our animals. 

Alice, in her nervousness from loss of sleep and from thinking 
about the road ahead of us, had not eaten anything before leaving 
Consuelo, and was now feeling faint from hunger, so we stopped at 
an inn at the foot of the mountain, and tried to get something to 
eat. I asked in succession for eggs, bread, coffee, plantains, rice, 
etc., until I had exhausted my vocabulary, but received the same 





nm 




ROADSIDE INN NEAR GUADUAS. 



answer to all my requests, "No hay " (there is none), so Ave had to 
push on. 

From this point for about two miles the road ran over compara- 
tively level ground, crossing two little streams on the way. The 
land was cultivated in places, and there were on either side of the 
road a number of little huts surrounded by small groves of orange- 



96 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TBOPICS. 








PLAZA AND CATHEDRAL AT GUADUAS. 



trees, coffee plants, and plantains. As we entered the town, the 
road became a narrow paved street with a gutter of running water 
in the centre, and just as the land began to rise to meet the second 
range of mountains, we came out into the principal square, the Plaza 
de la Constitucion. This was a large paved square with a fountain 
in the centre. On the eastern side was the cathedral, and on the 
three remaining sides were various stores and public buildings, the 
greater part of them of two stories in height. About the centre of 
the row of houses on the northern side was the only hotel in the 
place. It was of two stories, facing the plaza, the lower front rooms 
being used as a store, and the one large room above as the recep- 
tion or sitting-room. Back of this was a square courtyard, and 
farther back a second. The rear of the house overhung a swift 
running brook. The entrance was through a narrow passageway 



THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 



97 



which was paved with small brown and black cobblestones arranged 
in a very graceful arabesque pattern. This opened into the first 
court, whence a staircase led up to the second floor. All of the 
back rooms on the lower floor were used as storerooms and stables, 
and above were the bedrooms. The dining-room was in the portion 
separating the two courts. It was with a sensation of great relief 
that we rode in through the passageway and dismounted. Upon 




OUR HOTEL AT GUADUAS. FROM THE PLAZA. 



asking for the proprietor, we found that he and his wife had gone 
off to take a bath in some stream near the town, and they did not 
return until towards sundown. There was an entire lack of system 
and order in the house, and things seemed just to run themselves, 
but after a while we managed to get some rooms, and in about an 
hour and a half we had some eggs and coffee. Our rooms were 
perfectly plain, and with no other furniture than canvas cots. After 
trying to rest awhile, .Cabell and I went out for a short walk to look 
around. We saw a good many birds, flycatchers, swallows, turkey- 



98 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



buzzards, black vultures, anis, and flocks of the little blue-rumped 
parrakeets. Some of the swallows that we saw were somewhat like 
our purple martin, a little smaller and not so brightly colored, and 
they had their nests under the curved tiles of the roofs. 

The town is larger than Honda and is spread out over compar- 
atively level ground. The houses are of the usual type, though 
many are roofed with tiles instead of thatch. Everything seemed 
dull and sleepy except the cathedral. During our stay some trav- 
eling missionaries 
were visiting the 
place, and the church 
bells were jangling 
from morning till 
night, and crowds 
were going in and 
out all day long. 
The valley is fertile 
and the climate de- 
m| lightful, the temper- 

ature far cooler than 
at Honda, and blank- 




ets are 
night. 



at 



needed 
Guaduas is 
said to be about 
3,400 feet above the 
sea. 

I was struck with 
the great numbers of 
women of the poorer 

GOITRE. . X 

class suiiermo; trom 
goitre. Hardly one in five of the middle-aged women was free from 
it, and many of the men were also sufferers. Some have attributed 
this disease to the drinking of water from melted snow of the snow- 
clad peaks, but hardly within a week's journey of Guaduas could 



THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 99 

such water be found. Others have attributed it to living at high 
altitudes, but there are many people living in higher regions than 
Guaduas who are not affected. In Guaduas I found that the women 
were more affected than the men, especially the women of the 
laboring class. The carrying of heavy burdens partly supported 
by a band passing across the forehead necessitates a tension in the 
muscles of the neck and throat which may have some influence in 
producing the enlargement. So accustomed to it are the people 
here that (I was told) they even regard the goitre as a mark of per- 
fection, and those who do not have it are considered as departing 
from the normal. 

I also saw many children with some of the nails missing from 
their toes, and was told that this was caused by neglecting to pick 
out the " chigoes," or " nigoes," as they are sometimes called. 
These little vermin burrow under the nail and deposit their eggs 
in a sac. This can be easily picked out with a needle, but if 
neglected until the eggs hatch they produce ugly sores, sometimes 
attended by loss of the nail. 

When the proprietor finally returned, to our surprise we found 
that he was a Virginian, a Mr. David Bain, who had been out in 
Colombia for over twenty years, and who boasted of being even 
more indolent than the natives. Upon learning that we also were 
Virginians, he did all in his power to make us more comfortable, 
and gave Alice and myself the room over the entrance, which had 
the advantage of having a window facing on the plaza. The hotel 
was once a private dwelling, and must have belonged to a person of 
relatively considerable wealth. The floors were paved with a large 
coarse tile, as thick as our brick, but about ten inches square. 
These were warped, and had wide cracks between them which were 
strongholds for innumerable fleas. In going over the house, I no- 
ticed at one place, where the plaster had fallen off, that the laths, 
which were of split reeds, were fastened to the joists by being tied 
with a slender vine, and not nailed as ours are. 

At night, as I was feeling no better, I found the doctor of the 



100 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



place, who gave me a prescription of ipecac, chalk, and opium. 
The night was cool, and we would have rested well excej)t for the 
multitude of fleas that fairly devoured us. We spent a wakeful 
night and were fearfully bitten. 

Tuesday, July 5, 1892. I was worse this morning, having 
slight symptoms of dysentery, so sent again for the doctor, who 
gave me some calomel, after which I kept on the bed all day and 
spent the time reading a Spanish edition of the " Scientific Ameri- 
In the afternoon Cabell went out with his ffun, and later 



can 



returned with some birds, among which were six large humming- 
birds, all of the same species, but different from any that we had 

met so far. They were 
larsre, the males brilliant 



green above, the throat 
and breast black with an 
edging of deep blue, the 
tail a rich purple bronze, 
a white downy puff on 
the belly, and a white 
speck back of the eye. 
The female was similar, 
but below was white with 
a black baud down the 
centre of the throat and 
These he had found feeding on 
He also brought 




LAMI'OKNIS VIOLICAUDA. 
(From Elliot.) 



breast {Lampornis nigricollis) 
the scarlet blossoms of a large tree near the town 
in a green-naped pigeon, like the one that I had killed on the river, 
and a woodpecker about the size of our yellow-bellied, but colored 
somewhat like the red-bellied. Its head, throat, and below were 
ash-buff, the centre of the belly and back of the head washed with 
red, back closely barred with black and white, wings and two cen- 
tral tail-feathers black and white, remaining tail-feathers black with 
white tips, and rump white (Centurus terricolor). 
It was clear and warm. 




GKeuleTtLans del. 



EUPSYCHORTYX LEUCOTIS , &mdd 
White-eared. Partridge . 



MmterruBros. Chromo litK-London.. 



THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 101 

Wednesday, July 6, 1892. I felt a little better, but was still 
unable to eat anything, and stayed in bed all day. 

Thursday, July 7, 1892. I felt worse in the morning and sent 
again for the doctor, but was told that he had gone away the day be- 
fore and would be back in " about a week." I was feeling pretty 
blue over this news when my brother came in to say that an English 
gentleman stopping in the hotel, a Mr. George Child from Bogota, 
on his way to Honda, learning of my sickness and of the fact that 
there was now no doctor in the town, had kindly offered me a rem- 
edy which he had with him, " chlorodyne." Within ten minutes 
after taking the first dose I began to feel better, and from this point 
I recovered rapidly. Cabell made some beef tea for me later in the 
day, which was very strengthening. In the afternoon he went out 
with his gun for a little while and returned with quite a collection 
of birds. Among them were a pair of cardinals, an ani like the 
one killed in Barranquilla, and a hawk rather smaller than our 
Cooper's hawk, beak horn-blue and black, eyes, feet, cere, and skin of 
face yellow, above plumbeous, the tail black barred, the rump white 
with black bars, the primaries chestnut, black barred, under coverts 
finely marked with chestnut arrows, below plumbeous turning to 
rusty, breast and belly closely barred, the bars growing smaller 
towards the vent, and thighs closely barred with rusty (Rupomis 
magnirostris). The natives called this a " garrapatero," or tick- 
eater, but they apply the same name to the milvago and to the anis. 
He also brought back a tanager of the usual size, and with a beak 
much like that of our summer redbird, uniform blue-black with 
white shoulders and under wing-coverts {Tachyphonus melaleucus), 
a little ground dove, a blue-rumped parrakeet, and a pair of par- 
tridges, both males, about the size and shape of our " bob- white." 
Their back, wings, and tail were very like those of our bird, toj) of 
head buft'y and black, with a recurved crest of clay-colored feathers, 
chin, forehead, and ear-coverts whitish, throat, stripe above eye, and 
malar stripe rufous, breast mottled black, white, and rufous, the 
rufous prevailing on the lower breast (jEupysychortyx leucotis). 



102 I FLYING TEIP TO THE TROPICS. 

Towards evening I was feeling very much better, so I went in to 
the supper-table, though I confined myself to beef tea. I enjoyed 
conversation with Mr. Child, as he was well informed about the 
country. Whilst we were at the table. Mr. Millican, that energetic 
collector of orchids, came into the hotel. He was just on his way 
to Honda with a consignment of plants, which he was going to ship 
to England, and then return at once to his collecting-ground. 
About eleven o'clock that night 1 heard quite an uproar, and upon 
inquiry found that he had unfortunately uttered some criticism 
about the hotel, which reached the ears of the landlady, and she 
was so incensed that she immediately turned him and his servant 
out into the street, driving out his mules, and throwing their sad- 
dles out of the door after them. 

It was clear and hot during the day. but delightfully cool at 
night. The rleas. however, entirely prevented our sleeping. 

Friday. Ju% 8. 1892. I felt much better, but still stayed in or 
near the hotel the greater part of the day. and confined myself to a 
beef-tea diet. At breakfast I thought that I would try a soft-boiled 
egg ; but when I cracked it into my plate, it was not done, so I 
thought then that I would have it scrambled ; and. to hurry it up. 
I took it out to the kitchen myself. AYlien I had explained what I 
wanted to the cook. — a dirty old Indian. — she took my plate and 
scooped up the half-done egg in her hand, and transferred it thus 
to her pan ; so 1 changed my mind about wanting egg after all. 
Speaking of this reminds me that in Guaduas, and in other places 
in Colombia, they call scrambled eggs " pericos," which means, 
literally, little parrots; but why they are thus called I could not 
find out. The kitchen of our hotel was peculiar. It was a large 
room, without fireplace, stove, or chimney. Along two sides ran a 
built-up ledge of stone, much like the hearth in a country black- 
smith's shop. On this all the cooking was done, a dozen little tires 
being built at intervals. All of the earthenware utensils made 
in the country have round bottoms and no legs, so they cannot 
be made of themselves to stand upright, but three round cobble- 



THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 10.3 

stones must be placed around the fire, and the vessel placed on 
them. 

I thought it best to have my drinking-water boiled whilst I was 
sick, so purchased an earthenware jar for the purpose ; but I had 
great trouble in the matter. At one time, as soon as the water 
boiled it was taken by the servants to wash dishes ; at another time, 
when I asked about it, the cook, to see how hot the water was, put 
her hand into it. 

I was also occupied for a portion of the day in trying to destroy 




rff*>>.&jf!-Mr/i* fr/vy 



MARKET IN PLAZA AT GUADUAS. 



some of the fleas in our room. I purchased a pound of crystallized 
carbolic acid, with which I made a strong solution, and scrubliW.. 
the floor with a broom, being careful to let the liquid run into the 
cracks ; but at night we were bitten as severely as before. Every 



1(U 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



morning our white blankets were found full of them. They creep 
into the wool as they would were it growing on an animal's back. 
The few dogs that 1 saw around Guaduas were abject-looking 
creatures, and appeared as if life were a burden to them. The 
most of them were hairless. They are not only devoured by fleas. 




A PACK-OX AT GIAIHAS. 



but there are other vermin which burrow under the skin, like the 
" wolf " in our rabbit. Cattle suffer in the same way, and we saw- 
some mules and horses with one ear gone, due to the attack of some 
insect. 

This was market-day, and the plaza was crowded. I walked 
around to see what was going on, and to take some views with my 
camera. There was the usual assortment of fruits and vegetables 
for sale in the market, and nothing remarkable except that at one 
place I saw unborn pigs exposed for sale. This, I thought, was 



THE ROAD MULE AND GUADUAS. 



rather getting ahead of us in our dish, sucking pig. Salt, of which 
the government has the monopoly, was weighed out in little scales 
as carefully as a druggist weighs his medicines. The duty on salt 
is about three and a half cents per pound, and in Guaduas it was 
sold at ten cents per pound. Beef is very good here, and cattle 
are butchered every morning. The hides, which are exported in 
large quantities, are prepared by simply stretching them out with 
pegs over the ground, hair side down, but clear by about ten inches. 
When dry, they are folded up into squares about the size of a coffee- 
sack, and then tied up into bales. 

A good deal of the produce from the neighborhood was brought 
in on the backs of bullocks. They are said to be even more 
sure-footed than the mules, though slower. Such things as fruit, 
vegetables, earthenware vessels, etc., are put into purse-like bags 
of a coarse netting, and then loaded on the pack-animal. (See 
page 88.) 

In the afternoon Cabell went out with his gun, and later Alice 
and I went out a short ways to meet him 
on his return. He had been to some flow- 
ering trees near a coffee plantation along 
the road, and brought back eleven hum- 
ming-birds of eight different species. They 
were, first, a pair of the large black- 
throats (Lampomis nigricollis). Sec- 
ond, a pair, male and female, but slightly 
smaller; the male green above and below, 
with broad, black tail-feathers and con- 
spicuous white plume-like under tail-co- 
verts ; the female was similar, but had 
more gray in the green below {Hypurop- 
tila buffoni). Third, a pair, golden bronze 
above with a greenish tinge, the central 
tail-feathers the same ; the others chestnut, with purplish bronze 
and white tips, below gray, with a darker patch on the throat 




HYPUROPTILA BUFFONI. 

(From Elliot.) 



106 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 




DAMOPHILA JULIA. 

(From Elliot.) 



(young of Chrysolampis moschitus). Fourth, a rufous-tailed hum- 
ming-bird, like those that we had gotten on the river (Amazilia 
fuscicaudata). Fifth, similar to the last, but tail blue-black and 
forehead dirty blue (Amazilia cyanifrons). Sixth, small, brilliant 

emerald green above and below, and tail blue- 
black (Chlorostilbon angustipennis). Sev- 
enth, similar in size and shape to the last, but 
tail different, and belly very deep metallic 
blue (Damophila julia). Eighth, very mi- 
nute, greenish above, white collar and flanks, 
below rufous, tail chestnut, with dark green 
subterminal bar and a few metallic amethyst 
feathers in a dusky throat (young of Aces- 
trura lieliodori). The total length of this 
last was just two and a quarter inches. He also shot an owl about 
the size of our short-eared owl, but with long ears, the plumage 
more rusty than that of our long-eared owl and the feet more bare 
(Bubo mexicanus). This he had found roosting in some thick 
coffee plants. 

At night two friends of Mr. Bain came in and gave us some 
excellent music. They played on two instruments shaped like 
guitars, but both strung with four double strings like a mandolin. 
The smallest, which was very small, was called a " tiple ; " the 
other, about the size of a guitar, was called a " bandola." The 
performers excel in keeping time. 

I saw to-day a new fruit, a " badea." It was the size and shape 
of a small pumpkin, and when cut open its flesh made the resem- 
blance stronger. In the cavity inside were many seeds, each one 
surrounded by a pleasantly acid pulp, and this was the part that 
was eaten. There are pomegranates in Guaduas ; but they do not 
come to the same perfection as at other places. I also saw here for 
the first time another fruit, of which I had heard so much, and 
expected to find delicious, the " granadilla," or little pomegranate, 
and to my surprise recognized an old friend, the " may pop " of 



THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 



107 



our Southern States, the fruit of the common passion-flower, which 
is so abundant in our corn-fields in the early fall. It owes its 
Spanish name to the fact that, like the pomegranate, the portion 
that is eaten is the pulp around the seeds. It was my experience 
to be greatly disappointed in the fruits of the tropics ; but as this 
disappointment was only in those fruits which I had never before 
tasted, it may be that in time my taste would have been educated 
up to the point of liking them. The oranges, pine-apples, and 
bananas were incom- 
parably superior to any 
that we get, and I be- 
came in time very fond 
of the nispero ; but 
after once tasting the 
mango I had an aver- 
sion to it amoLintinof' to 
disgust, and were I to 
describe the flavors of 
the many other fruits 
that I tried, I would 
say that they varied 
from that of a pump- 
kin to that of our paw- 
paw. There being no 

frost in this climate, some plants which regularly die every winter 
with us, grow here indefinitely. Such are the Palma ehristi, or 
castor-oil plant, which becomes a fair-sized tree, and cotton. I saw 
several cotton plants which might almost be called small trees ; 
how r ever, the bolls were very small, and produced an inferior cotton. 
The principal forage for horses and mules is young sugar-cane, 
which is chopped up with a machete into little pieces of an inch in 
length. The animals are very fond of it ; and it seems to suit 
them, for, notwithstanding their hard labor, they all look sleek and 
in o'ood condition 




TIKKD OUT. 



108 



A FLYING T/Ur TO THE TROPICS. 



Saturday, -Inly '■>, hS'J'J. Cabell, Alice, and myself were up early 
tin's morning, and, after having some eggs and coffee, went back 
along the Honda road lor about a mile to a coffee plantation, a 
place called " Tuscola," where we had obtained permission to shoot, 
and where Cabell had found the humming-birds on the day before. 
When we readied the place, we Found on the roadside a tree in 
bloom, and around this some humming-birds were feeding-. The 
first one that I saw and shot proved to be a new one, but in poor 
plumage. It had a long, curved beak, the lower mandible yellow. 
Above it was dull green- be- 
low dusky, mark above eye 
and car coverts black ; a whit- 
ish superciliary streak. The 
two central tail-feathers were 
prolonged and pointed, their 
tips white and bases dusky 
( Phfflthornis super ciliosus). 
From here we went up into 
the plantation, which we found 
grown up into a perfect jun- 
gle. It consisted of coffee, 
orange, and cocoa trees planted together; but they were all shaded 
by large forest-trees, and interwoven so thickly as to be almost im- 
penetrable. We found a cool, shady spot near a little trickling 
spring, and Alice arranged herself comfortably with a book, whilst 
we hunted around within fifty yards. As we drew near some trees 
with a white, fringy blossom, we could see humming-birds darting 
about among them, and could hear their humming and buzzing at 
quite a distance. The first one that 1 shot was a perfect gem, — 
by far the prettiest that we had yet seen, — a male, ruby and topaz 
(Chrysolampis moschitus), in perfect plumage. Its body was 
brownish green ; tail rich chestnut ; head above ruby ; gorget 
brilliant, golden yellow. Later, I killed two young males, similar 
to those that Cabell had shot the day before, but having a few 




'II/KTMoknis SUPBROILIOSUS. 
(From Elliot.) 



THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 



109 




CHRYSOLAMPIS MQSCHITUS. 

(From Elliot.) 



ruby feathers on the crown and a few topaz ones on the throat. 
Though we saw great numbers of humming-birds, we had to select 
our shots carefully, for if one 
fell in the thick underbrush, 
it was a hopeless task to 
look for it. We found that 
we had either to wait until 
they were over an open space 
or else shoot them immedi- 
ately overhead, so that they 
would drop at our feet, and 
even then we lost a good many. 
A third new kind that I 
killed was a small bird, green above, green and white below, chin, 
spot back of eye, and flanks white, and gorget amethyst. Its tail 
was peculiar, black, and forked, the two outer feathers on each side 
being reduced almost to a bare stem (Acestrura mulsanti). 

In the grove we picked some of the most delicious oranges that 
I ever tasted. We started back to the hotel shortly after ten o'clock, 
and on our way stopped to fish in the little stream that we crossed. 
We used grasshoppers for bait, and in a few minutes caught a half 

dozen small fish, shad-like in general 
shape, but with the fleshy dorsal fin of 
a trout. Their jaws were also much 
heavier than those of a shad, and in 
the lower jaw in front were a pair of 
strong and sharp teeth (Characin sp.). 
We broke the only hook that we had 
with us, so had to stop fishing. 

In the afternoon Cabell and myself 

returned to the coffee plantation, and 

got seven or eight humming-birds. It was close cloudy at this 

time, and the light under the trees was barely more than twilight, 

so we lost more of the humming-birds than we got. I myself lost 




ACESTRDKA MULSANTI. 

(From Elliot.) 



110 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



nine. We got in all to-day twenty-one, among which were five 
males of the ruby and topaz, all in fine plumage. In the morning 
I saw flying over high in the air a pair of fork-tailed flycatchers 
(Milvulus tyr annus) ; but they kept on out of sight without light- 
ing. We saw a small flock of partridges ; but although we ran 
at once to the spot where they lit, we did not succeed in flushing a 
single one. 

I noticed all through the coffee plantation a number of little 
beaten paths, from two to three inches wide, and perfectly cleaned 
of all grass, leaves, twigs, and even small gravel. They looked like 
the impressions left on a grass lawn when a piece of timber that has 
been lying on the grass for six months or more is taken up. A 
peculiarity of these paths was that even when they passed for 

several yards over 
the bare surface of 
the out - cropping" 
stone, they could 
still be plainly 
traced, for the lich- 
ens and dust had 
been cleaned off un- 
til it looked as if an 
attempt had been 
made to polish the 
stone, and the path 
was liofhter colored 
than the adjacent surface. I was wondering what animal had 
made these, when I came upon one in use. Thousands of ants were 
hurrying along in opposite directions, those going in one direction 
being empty handed (or rather, empty jawed), each one of the oth- 
ers carrying held up edgewise a piece of leaf, approximately circu- 
lar in outline, and about the size of one's finger-nail. The ants 
were a little smaller than our large black wood-ant. They were the 
leaf-cutting ant, described by Bates in his " Naturalist on the Ama- 




SAUBA OK LEAF-CARKYING ANT. — 1. WORKER-MINOR; 
2. WORKER-MAJOR ; 3. SUBTERRANEAN-WORKER. 

(From "The Naturalist on the Amazon.") 



THE MULE BO AD AND GUADUAS. 



Ill 



zon." I later found, their hill. It was about a foot in height, but 
certainly twenty feet in circumference. There were numerous en- 
trances, and their highways radiated in every direction. I followed 
one for about half a mile. The leaves came mainly from the coffee 
plants. 

An interesting plant here is the guadua (Guadua latifolia), from 
which the place derives its name. This is what I have spoken of as 
the bamboo. It grows in graceful feathery clumps and reaches a 
large size. I saw some nearly fifty feet in height and as thick as a 
man's thigh. It sprouts up like an asparagus plant, that is, shoots up 
a large, club-like growth which does not put out leaves or branches 
until it reaches a good height. It has a hundred uses ; many uten- 
sils and vessels are made of the joints, and it is one of the most 
universal building and fencing materials. The smaller ones make 
good fishing-poles. 

At the supper-table we met the first ill-mannered person whom 
we had thus far encountered in Colombia, and I am ashamed to have 
to admit that he was an American drummer. 

We spent another wakeful night tormented by the fleas. It was 
clear and warm in the morning, but close cloudy in the afternoon. 

Sunday, July 10, 1892. Alice, 
Cabell, and myself went out again 
early this morning to the same 
place to which we had gone the 
day before, but we came back 
soon. We ofot twelve 11111111111112"- 
birds, but there were no new ones 
among them. They were divided 
among the following species : five 
emerald green ones (Chlorostil- 
bon angustipennis), two of the 
small emerald green and blue ones 
(Damo'pliila Julia), one of the smallest kind (Acestrura heliodori), 
one with an amethyst gorget (Acestrura midsanti), two young ruby 




JAGUAK SKULL. 



112 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



and topaz, and one of the large black-throated ones (Lampornis 
nigricollis). 

In the afternoon we were busy getting our things together, as we 
concluded to start back on the following day. The climate of 







Guaduas is delightful, and the place promises well, but Alice is get- 
ting worn out by loss of sleep and by poor food. I arranged about 
our mules and two peons to accompany us and bring the mules 
back. Our specimens so filled a trunk now that I had to purchase 
another pataca. In the little shop where I bought the pataca, I saw 
several deerskins, apparently of just the same color as our Virginia 
deer, the fawns being likewise spotted, and the skull of a young 
jaguar that had been killed not very far from Guaduas. The shop- 



THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 



113 



keeper, seeing that I was interested in it, insisted upon making me 
a present of it. The native name for jaguar is " tigre." They are 
said to be especially abundant in some portions of the Magdalena 
Valley. They are heavier and more stocky than a leopard, but 
otherwise are much like that animal. There are also many pumas 
in Colombia, and I saw numbers of their skins. Mr. Bain wore a 
handsome pair of zamorras made from a pair of puma-skins which 
had come from near the snow line of the Paramo del Ruis. The 
natives call the puma " tigre Colorado," red tiger, or sometimes 
u leon," lion. 

The religions ceremonies which had been going on all during our 
stay culminated late in the afternoon with a procession around 
the plaza. Some really pretty arches were erected at the four 




RELIGIOUS PROCESSION AT GUADUAS. 



Ill A FLYINO TEIP TO TEE TM0PIC8. 

comers of the square and covered wii.li palms and dowers. The 
procession was Conned on the steps of the cathedral and filed 
slowly around under the arches, halting at each one whilst one of 
the priests delivered a brief sermon. The column was headed by 
four musicians, these were followed by several priests, then came the 
communicants, little girls from five to ten years old and of all 
colors. They were dressed mainly 111 white, some w i l.l i Little gauze 
wings, as if to represent dairies at a Fancy dress ball, and all wore; 
Mowers in the hair. Their mothers marched on either side, all 
dressed m black with a Mack shawl over their heads, and bearing a 

candle. Alter the earls came the little boys carrying small banners, 

ami then came groups of men bearing on their shoulders platforms 
wilh wax figures of the Virgin, Saint Joseph, and other saints. The 

Virgin wore a OrOWll and dress like those worn by Queen Anne. 

One of the saints was dressed like Charles the First. The houses 
Oaoing the procession were made gay by nags and lace curtains 

draped over the balconies. 

During' our slay in Guaduas several detachments <>l soldiers 
passed through the town escorting government stores from the river 
to Bogota. They usually rested a day in the town, and spent their 
time whilst there sitting in the shade of some doorway and playing 

cards on a poncho spread on the ground. They were armed With 

Remington idles, but apparently knew nothing of keeping their 

weapons in order, tor such of their pieces as I examined looked as 
if sandpaper and tat pork were the cleaning materials. 

I approached a party playing cards on the hotel stairs, and pick- 
ing up a cartridge-belt examined the cartridges. The bullets had 

all been drawn, the powder sold, and the bullets then put back. In 
some cases the bullet had been lost, but a wooden plug answered 

every purpose. 



CHAPTER VI. 

BACK TO BARRANQUILLA. 

Monday, July 11, 1892. We were up very early, but owing to 
the usual delays did not get off until half past seven. Mr. Bain 

insisted upon accompany- 
ing- us for a portion of the 
way. Besides our riding 
mules, we had three bag- 
gage mules, so we made 
quite a train. 
The air was 
fresh and 
cool, and we 




DISMOUNTED ONLY FOR THE RAD PORTION AROVE CONSUELO." 



passed without trouble the bad spots in the road, so reached the 
summit in good time. Alice was more accustomed to the road 
by this time, so she dismounted only for the bad portion above 



116 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

Consuelo. I carried my camera under my arm, and took various 
views as we went along. It was with feelings of regret that I 
took the last backward look at Guaduas, as we turned to go over 
the crest. Before us stretched a magnificent view. The valley 
beneath us was filled with clouds, but above them we saw the glit- 
tering snow of Tolima and of the Paramo del Ruis. I tried several 
views from this point with my camera, but much to my disappoint- 
ment, when the plates were developed, the blue sky and the white 
peaks both came out white, and there was no contrast between the 
two. 

At Consuelo we said good-by to Mr. Bain, and waved an acknow- 
ledgment to Don Clemente's " feliz viaje." We traveled along com- 
fortably as far as Las Cruces, where we stopped for breakfast and to 
rest. For about twenty-five cents we got some bread, rice, and 
eggs, all nicely cooked, and some of the most delicious coffee that 
I ever tasted. From this point, as we descended, the heat increased 
until it became almost unbearable ; however, as we wished to reach 
Honda before night, we had to push on, as the ferry stopped run- 
ning at six. The distance from Guaduas to Honda is some sixteen 
miles, and we were traveling for about seven and a half hours. 
The latter part of the road was made doubly disagreeable by thick 
clouds of a suffocating dust in which our mules sank to their ankles 
at every step. We had no drinking water along the road, and all 
suffered from heat more or less. After an irritating delay at the 
ferry we finally got across, and about five o'clock I was relieved by 
once more reaching in safety Mr. Bowden's welcome hotel. Mr. 
Child, who had preceded us from Guaduas by several days, had 
engaged good rooms for us, so we were soon comfortably fixed. 
After supper Cabell and myself took a short walk through the town, 
and I purchased for fifty cents a very pretty tiger-cat's skin. 

Shortly after passing Las Cruces, as we were riding along through 
a parched bit of scrubby woods, I heard a loud rustling noise as if a 
high wind were approaching ; but in a short while I discovered that 
the noise was made by an immense swarm of grasshoppers creeping 



BACK TO BARRANQUILLA. 117 

and hopping over the dry leaves. They were of comparatively large 
size, yellow with a black stripe down the back, and were wingless, 
that is, their wings were not yet developed. The noise that they 
made could be heard at least one hundred yards. I have heard in 
Florida a similar noise made by multitudes of fiddler crabs running 
over the dry marshes, but the noise of these grasshoppers was 
greater. 

At another point on the road we passed a man who was carrying 
with him a half dozen game-cocks. These were arranged in a pecul- 
iar way, so as to be carried without injury. Each was furnished 
with a pair of trousers of cotton cloth into the legs of which its 
legs were thrust. The part corresponding to the seat was brought 
up and buttoned over the back, securing the wings, and on the back 
a loop was sewn by which the cocks were suspended from the sad- 
dle. They were thus carried in a natural position without chafing 
and without being able to strike at one another. It was clear and 
hot. 

Tuesday, July 12, 1892. We stayed around the hotel in the 
morning, and later went for a short walk through the town, calling 
on our way upon Mr. Hallam. As we came back I bought for five 
dollars at a saddler's shop a very large and handsome jaguar-skin. 
Late in the afternoon Cabell and I took our guns and went out 
about two miles on the table-land in rear of the town. We saw 
very few birds. The land is hot and dry, with scanty vegetation, 
and promises little. On our way out an iguana about three feet 
long ran across the street just in front of us, and scrambled up 
among some vines on an old stone wall. Cabell shot a rufous 
ground dove (Columbigallina rujipennis) of the same kind as the 
one that we obtained in Barranquilla. We saw some partridges, 
kingfishers (C. amazona), flycatchers, anis, and some very small 
finches, but hardly anything else. We saw several small swarms 
of the same kind of grasshoppers that we had seen on the day 
before. The anis were feeding on them. There are some beauti- 
fully colored grasshoppers in Colombia. One that I saw several 



118 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

times was an almost metallic green with bright scarlet eyes, legs, 
and bead-like markings, looking like a jeweler's design in emeralds 
and rubies. 

In the neighborhood of Honda there is an upright cactus which 
is used for hedges and fences, but which differs from the one used 
for that purpose in Curagao. The latter is approximately circular 
in cross section, but the former is star-shaped, that is, it has a small 
circular core but wide radiating flanges, thus being very rigid and 
at the same time light. Near Honda I also saw a cactus much like 
the prickly pear, but its lobes were perfectly smooth and devoid of 
thorns. It was clear and intensely hot. 

Wednesday, July 13, 1892. We stayed around the hotel the 
greater part of the day, and did nothing in particular. In the af- 
ternoon, Cabell and myself walked down to the river and watched 
a man fish for a while, but he caught nothing. We saw in an 
Indian's hut a domesticated bird called a " guacharaca." It was 
about as large as our ruffed grouse, but had much longer tail, 
legs, and neck, and a little head like a turkey's. Its plumage was 
dark without distinctive markings, and it had a slight gular pouch. 
This was an immature bird. The name " guacharaca," given to 
this bird from, its call, recalls at once the Mexican bird similarly 
named, the " chachalaca." It was clear and hot. 

Thursday, July 14, 1892. Cabell and myself went out about 
six this morning to the place where we went on Tuesday. We had 
hardly reached the spot when we saw several fork-tailed flycatchers 
{Milmdus tyrannus), and I shot a pair, male and female. Their 
bodies are about the size and color of that of our kingbird, light 
gray above, the head blackish with a concealed yellow patch. Their 
flight is so graceful that they seem to float through the air. They 
perch on the tops of small bushes, just as our kingbird does. A 
little later Cabell shot a new dove, a male, about the size of our 
Carolina dove, but with a short tail, reddish, the under tail-coverts 
reddish, and two blue-black streaks on each side of the head {Ze- 
naida ruficauda, Bonaparte). He also shot a pair of the little 



BACK TO BARRANQUILLA. 



119 




FORK-TAILED FLYCATCHER (iVIILVULUS TTRANNFS). 

ground doves, and later I killed a second one of the rufous-tailed 
doves, also a male. We saw a covey of eight partridges; but 
although we ran in upon them at once, we flushed but one and did 
not get it. We were much troubled to-clay by a sort of nettle which 



120 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

is very abundant here. It has large leaves covered with a multitude 
of hair-like thorns, which prick at the least touch and produce a 
burning pain which lasts for some time, and, to say the least, is very 
disagreeable. The heat soon became so oppressive that shortly after 
eiffht we turned back and reached the hotel about nine. After 
breakfast I skinned the birds, and the remainder of the day we 
spent around the hotel. An Indian boy brought to the hotel for 
sale a fresh fish of the same kind as the small ones that we had 
caught at Gnaduas, but this one was about four pounds in weight. 
It had been caught in the river in front of the town. 

We received some letters to-day, the first that had reached us 
since our departure. It was clear and hot. 

Friday, July 15, 1892. We stayed around the hotel all day, saw 
about our tickets for the steamer America that was to go down the 
river next day, and got together our baggage. At Mr. Hallam's 
we had the pleasure of meeting the captain of our boat, Captain 
Bradford. This gentleman, a Georgian by birth, a graduate of the 
Naval Academy, and an officer of our navy, left the service of the 
United States to side with the Confederacy at the outbreak of 
the late civil war, and upon its termination settled in Colombia, 
where for the last twenty-five years he has run upon the Magdalena 
River. He is a gentleman of the old school, and we found in 
him at all times that courteousness which is so delightful, but which 
we now, unfortunately, so rarely meet. I should advise any future 
travelers on the Magdalena to make inquiries as to when the 
America will go up or down, and, if possible, take passage on her. 

It was clear and intensely hot. 

Saturday, July 16, 1892. We were up early this morning, and 
soon had our trunks packed, after which Cabell and I went out to 
get the tickets which we had engaged the day before. The fare 
for the down trip, owing to the shorter time required, is only two 
thirds of the fare up. We saw a very large iguana in one of the 
trees overhanging the Guali at the old bridge. In the same tree 
I saw a new bird, a woodpecker about the size of our red-headed 



BACK TO BARBANQUILLA. 121 

woodpecker, but with its colors distributed like those of Lewis's 
woodpecker. Its general color was a dark sage-green, its cheeks 
white, the back of its head red. I did not see its under parts. This 
bird I have not yet been able to identify (Chloroneiyes sp.). 

We had our breakfast about half past eleven, and afterwards 
went down to the station to take the train which was to leave at 
one. We reached the station about twelve minutes ahead of time ; 
but the agent had gone off to his breakfast, and the conductor 
positively refused to allow me to put my baggage on board. I tried 
every argument, offered him money, represented to him that we had 
purchased our tickets for the steamer which was to sail at three 
o'clock, and that there was no other train until the next day, but 
my trouble was for nothing. At last I was so incensed that I did 
what I should have done at the outset, that is, I began to put the 
baggage on board myself ; but one of the loafing officials, seeing 
that I had nearly everything on, gave the signal to start, and the 
train pulled out about three minutes ahead of time. I hardly knew 
what to do ; but as Alice and Cabell were on board, I jumped on 
also, and called out to some one on the platform to look after the 
trunks that were left. We were an hour and a half in reaching 
Yeguas, and by that time I had cooled down a little. From here I 
telegraphed back to Honda, and finally got orders for the engine 
to return for my trunks, and Captain Bradford secured permission 
to hold his boat for me. I went back with the engine and flat car 
in thirty-two minutes, and returned in twenty-nine. The road was 
so rickety that I was in constant dread that we would jump the 
track. For this special engine I had to pay thirty-five dollars in 
paper. 

As soon as I reached Yeguas our trunks were put on board, and 
the steamer started. We went up the river first for about a quar- 
ter of a mile, then turned and came down, running with the cur- 
rent like an express train. Captain Bradford had selected very 
comfortable staterooms for us, and did everything in his power to 
make our trip a pleasant one. The America is one of the mail 



ISA A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

steamers, and is run on quite a different plan from the Enrique. 
We made very few stops, and did not take on wood until we tied 
up for the night. Just after sunset we tied up, and as soon as the 
gang-plank was put out, Cabell and I hurried ashore. Within 
twenty yards of the landing Cabell shot a large hawk which dropped 
in a thicket near by, and as he ran to pick it up a large bird sailed 
out of the forest, and lit in the tree over his head. He fired at it, 
and it spread its wings and glided down to the ground about fifty 
yards off, where one of the little Indian boys with us ran and 
brought it back. Darkness comes on almost instantaneously here, 
for in the minute or two that had elapsed since the hawk was shot, 
it had become so dark that we had to give up the search for it, and 
return to the boat. We found Captain Bradford anxious on our 
account, fearing that we would be snake-bitten. When I came to 
examine the bird that the little Indian had picked up, I found it to 
be something new and very curious. It was of the whippoorwill 
family, but very large, measuring twenty-one inches in length by 
forty-two in extent. Its mouth, which was not provided with bristles, 
was so large that I easily put a moderate-sized orange in it. Its eyes 
were very large and dark, the soles of its feet broad and flat like the 
palm of a hand. Its upper mandible had a tooth-like projection on 
each side, and fitted over the lower. Its tail was large and rounded, 
and, like the rest of its plumage, was beautifully mottled with gray 
and black. Its back was rusty in places and its shoulders were 
dark brown (Nyctibius grandis). I skinned it the following morn- 
ing. It was a female, and had been feeding on large black beetles. 
It was larger than a short-eared owl. 

I bought at this place a very prettily marked tiger-cat's skin, 
quite fresh, and saw several peccary-skins and a portion of the skin 
of a tapir. I was told that there were two species of tapir found 
near here, one in the river valley and another on the mountains. 

Above Yeguas I saw the same kinds of sparrow-hawks and ru- 
fous-winged buzzards that I had seen when here two weeks ago. 
Below Yeguas I saw many blue and yellow, and blue and scarlet 



BACK TO BABBANQUILLA. 



123 



macaws, parrots, hawks, and cocoi herons. For nearly a mile the 
steamer passed through an immense swarm of grasshoppers. They 
almost darkened the air, and actually bent down the bushes upon 
which they settled. They were of the same kind as those that we 
had seen at Honda, but were fully grown. 

I had been told that no alligators were found above Yeguas, but 
when I went back on the engine for our trunks I saw several large 
ones within a couple of miles of Honda. 

At night we were not troubled with mosquitoes, but made the 
acquaintance of a new insect pest, the " egen." This is a minute 
fly that causes a blood-blister the size of a pin's head to rise 
on the skin. It does not itch, so is not as irritating as the bite of 
a mosquito, but leaves a mark that lasts for a week or more. 

It was clear and very hot. 

Sunday, July 17, 1892. We started at early dawn, made very 
few stops during the day, and ran along rapidly. The river was 




GRAND POOTOO (nYCTIBIUS GRANDIS). 



124 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

much lower than when we came up. We saw quantities of alli- 
gators, and shot at them many times. We struck a number, but 
killed very few. Cabell killed a tremendous one, and we wished 
very much that we could have gotten it. It was fully 250 yards 
distant, and he killed it with the 32 Winchester after firing four shots 
at it. Captain Bradford, who is an excellent shot, joined us in the 
shootino-. He used a 44-calibre Remiuo-ton, which was much more 
effective than the light Winchester. About noon we made a short 
stop at Puerto Berrio. I hurried ashore with my gun, and in a 
few moments shot a new toucan. It was similar in size and colora- 
tion to the one killed by Mr. Lindauer on the up trip. The beak 
of this one, however, was plain, not serrate, and was chocolate- 
brown, almost black below, greenish yellow on top, becoming pure 
yellow at the tip. The skin of its face was a bright lemon-green, 
feet lead-blue. The colors of the plumage were like those of the 
first one, except that the rump was white {Bamphastos ambiguus). 
This was a male, and was one of a large scattered flock. 

We did not tie up for the night until it was too late to go ashore. 
I saw during the day some capybaras, two kinds of macaws, some 
guacharacas, and four kinds of toucans, the three of which we have 
obtained specimens and a fourth whose under parts seemed largely 
red. 

The steward bought for the table a large turtle, or rather terrapin. 
It had a smooth shell, a uniformly colored skin, a sharp pointed and 
snake-like head with the eyes much nearer the tip of the nose than 
in our river terrapins. The poor reptile was secured by having its 
feet sewn together. It was clear and hot and rained at night. 

Monday, July 18, 1892. We started very early, and made a good 
day's run, passing Bodega Central, Puerto Nacional, and other 
places, but made no stop long enough to go ashore for birds. 
We shot a great many times at alligators. I saw several iguanas 
at the mouth of the river Lebrija. At Puerto Nacional there was 
one on the river's bank, and getting between it and the trees, I 
made an attempt to catch it ; but without the slightest hesitation 



BACK TO BAKUANQUILLA. 



125 




KING VULTURE. 

(From " Riverside Natural History," by permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co.) 



it dived boldly into the water, and swam off beneath the surface as 
easily as a frog. We saw several small bands of monkeys in the 
trees as we passed along. After we had tied up for the night, the 
mosquitoes became very troublesome. It was clear and hot. 

Tuesday, July 19, 1892. We passed Banco early in the morn- 
ing, and later the mouth of the Cauca, soon after which we made 
a short stop at Magangue. The water was now too low for us to 
get into Mompos. I saw during the day several herds of capybaras. 



126 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

Before I got up, Cabell had seen a king vulture, and later in the 
day I saw a pair perched in a low dead tree growing in a marsh. 
At the distance that I saw them, they looked black and white with 
red heads. I also saw another new bird, apparently an ibis, very 
large, snowy white plumage with black head and legs (Mycteria 
americana). I saw large flocks of black and white ducks of two 
or three kinds, wood ibises, blackish ones, like those that we shot at 
Barranquilla, roseate spoonbills, white egrets, snowy herons, cocoi 
herons, the black and white terns, some small sand snipe, large 
plover, three kinds of kingfishers, numbers of the screamers, cara- 
cara eagles, etc. Late in the afternoon we stopped for wood, and 
Cabell and myself hurried ashore, but in a few minutes a drenching 
rain fell, and before we could run back to the boat we were soaked. 
Cabell shot a very large hawk, probably a young caracara eagle, as 
it had the same large bluish white beak with pinkish colorations 
along the side of the head. It was in wretched plumage, and stunk 
so intolerably of carrion that we did not bring it on board. It was 
of a dirty dark brownish color above, with a great many narrow 
brown and white bars on the tail. In the same tree in which the 
hawk was sitting there were three large iguanas. They seem very 
abundant along the river here. 

The boat ran all night. Just about dusk, as we were running 
close to the shore, a large yellowish owl flopped out from some 
scrubby bushes and flew off from the river. With the exception of 
the rain in the afternoon, it was clear and hot. 

Wednesday, July 20, 1892. When we woke at daybreak this 
morning, our boat was just making fast to the wharf at Barran- 
quilla. We dressed quickly, got off our baggage, and drove around 
to Miss Hoare's, where we were given very nice rooms. After we had 
taken some coffee, Alice rested whilst Cabell and I walked around 
to the market. I bought two more jaguar-skins, — not such large 
ones as the one I had gotten at Honda, — and paid for them seven 
dollars and fifty cents in paper. I saw in the market an Indian 
with a macaw of a kind that I had not seen so far. It was large, 



BACK TO BARRANQUILLA. 



127 



with scarlet and yellow the prevailing colors, the wings bemo- laro-ely 
yellow (Ara macao). I was told that it had been caught near 
Barranquilla. 

Later on it grew so hot that we returned to the hotel, and sat 
around in the shade until about four o'clock, when we went out for 




CATHEDRAL AT BARRANQUILLA. 



a long drive through the town. It covers a good deal of space, but 
except the cathedral and one or two buildings near by, there are 
no houses of any architectural pretensions. The majority of the 
dwellinghouses are of mud and bamboo, thatched with rushes. In 
some the mud is whitewashed, or is plastered smooth with lime, so 
that from the street they appear solidly built of brick. One house 



128 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



Between each window was a large 



of some pretension was unique 
panel in the wall, and these panels were decorated with paintings or 
frescoes horribly executed, the figures of life-size and gaudily col- 
ored. In one of the panels was the " Angelus." In the evening 
we called on Captain Bradford. It was clear and hot. 

In the courtyard of our hotel there was a little armadillo which 
had been bought at the market here. Its body was about the size 




NINE-BANDED ARMADILLO (tATUSIA NOVEMC1NCTA). 



of a rabbit's, but its head was longer and smaller, and its tail long 
and thick at the base. Its scales did not overlap, nor were they 
separate, but were like those on the under parts of an alligator. Its 
eyes were very small (Tatusia novemcincta). 



BACK TO BABRANQUILLA. 129 

Thursday, July 21, 1892. Cabell and I had arranged for a man 
to come and take us out in a boat early this morning, so we mio-ht 
get some waterfowl ; but although we were ready by five o'clock 
he failed to appear. About seven we walked around to the market 
where, after considerable inquiry, we managed to find a man and a 
boy, who took us out in a large dug-out. We started about half 
past seven, and went through a large ditch or canal, which ran 
across a marshy tract for over a mile, until it opened into the 
Magdalena. Here we turned up-stream, and hugged the shore 
closely so that our boat could be poled along. On our way in the 
canal we came across the badly decomposed body of a very large 
alligator, in whose jaws a few teeth yet remained, which our boat- 
man pulled out for us. As we turned a bend in the canal, we saw 
coming towards us a boat-load of natives transporting cattle in a 
most curious way. The boat was a huge dug-out, but was so nar- 
row that four or five bullocks would have filled it, so the boatmen 
had devised a peculiar plan. They had lashed across the boat, at 
equal distances apart, three long poles that projected like out-rig- 
gers ten feet or more on either side. These poles were probably 
about a foot above the surface of the water. The cattle were 
driven into the water until they were swimming, and then their 
horns were lashed firmly to the poles. For each pole there were 
eight bullocks, — four on a side, making twenty-four in all. The 
boat was poled along by the crew, the cattle swimming, and the 
poles keeping their heads above water, so that they could not 
drown. 

We had hardly left the canal when I shot, on a mud flat, a small 
grayish heron. It was smaller than our green heron, but quite 
similar in coloration, the top of its head dark ; its back and wings 
the same greenish gray, with lighter edgings to the feathers ; the 
neck light and streaked below {Butorides cycmurus). This bird 
was unfortunately stolen by a cat at the hotel before I had skinned 
it. At this same spot I saw standing, on a strip of mud by a pool 
in the marsh, one of the white-winged jaganas that are so common 



130 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

here. I shot and killed it, and then directed the little Indian with 
us to bring it. He started for it ; but before he could reach it a 
small alligator darted out of the pool, grabbed the bird, and 
returned to the water with it. I ran up at this, and frightened the 
" caymancito " so that he dropped the jagana, but rose to the 
surface, and, with his eyes just on a level with the water, watched 
me closely. Cabell now came up with the rifle, and I took good 
aim at a distance of some ten feet, and blazed away. The alligator 
turned over on his back, and sunk in about eighteen inches of 
water. I waded in, and secured both it and the bird. The alliga- 
tor was stone dead ; yet, though I examined it closely a dozen times, 
I could never detect the slightest scratch upon it. It was probably 
killed by the concussion, as blood oozed from its throat. 

The jagana had a yellowish orange beak, a scarlet frontal shield 
and lobes at the side of its mouth. It had a yellow, thorn-like spur 
on the inner side of each wing at the wrist-joint. Its general color 
above and below was black, with greenish and purplish reflections ; 
its primaries and secondaries pale, greenish white, with narrow, 
blackish edgings ; its legs and feet olive (Jagana nigra). When I 
came to skin this bird, I found that, although it much resembles a 
coot, it is very easily skinned, whilst it is almost an impossibility to 
o-et the skin of a coot's neck to pass over the head. Later in the 
day I saw others that were whitish below. They were probably 
young. The one that I killed was a female. At this place I saw a 
slender clay-colored snake ; but it ran under some driftwood before 
I could kill it. A little farther up the river I shot at a purple gal- 
linule, and crippled it, but did not get it. Cabell got a snap shot 
at a small alligator, but missed, and later he shot one of the terns 
that we had seen so often. It was a large bird, a male in poor 
plumage, grayish above ; tail short and forked, dark grayish ; wings 
white, primaries black, below white, crown black, beak yellow, 
feet the color of yellowish green oil paint (Phaethiisa magniros- 
tris). Farther up the river, where an opening offered, we went 
ashore. Here we found among the underbrush a number of small 




BLACK JACANA (JACANA NIGRA). 



132 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



whippoorwills, and Cabell shot two, both females. They were much 
smaller than ours, had bristles along the gape, their tails were 
slightly forked, and marked like that of our night-hawk, except 
rusty instead of gray. Above they were mottled with rufous and 
black (Stenopsis ruficermx). Here, also, we got several long shots 
at some cormorants, but failed to get any. They seemed to be of a 
uniform grayish color. The boatman called them " pato cuervo," 
crow-duck. 

I saw at least three species of ducks, but could not identify any 







^Meigefy 



MURINE OPOSSUM (DIDELPHYS MUJRINUs). 



of them. When we returned to the boat we concluded to cross the 
river, so we hoisted a coarse sail of bagging, and were soon across, 
although the river here is very wide. As we passed under some 



BACK TO BARRANQUILLA. 133 

willow-like bushes overhanging the water, I saw in one of them a 
large mud ball, about the size of a man's head. Cabell pulled it 
down, and found it to be a nest of some kind. It had a little hole 
in one side, and was lined with strips of bark. In it he found what 
I thought at first was a rat ; but a glance at the thumb on the fore 
paws showed it to be a 'possum. It was smaller than a rat, yellow- 
ish brown above, paler beneath, with a black stripe on each side of 
its head, from its nose to its ear, embracing the eye (Didelphys 
murinus). It was a female, I think, and had no pouch that I could 
discover ; but its teats were arranged in a circle at the lower part 
of its belly. At this place we saw a number of large alligators, 
but got no shots at them, as they were all swimming. We went 
ashore here, and I shot one of the smallest-sized kingfishers (Ceryle 
americana). It was just a miniature of the one that we got on 
our way up the river, glossy green above, white below, a white 
collar, and a chestnut-red belt. This was a male. The female 
which I saw was without the belt. We saw numbers of iguanas 
and of the large brown hooded lizards. The latter were called 
" lobos," or wolves, by our boatmen. 

It had now become too hot to remain out longer, so we turned 
back, and reached the market about eleven. On our way we passed 
several dug-outs loaded almost to the water's edge with mangoes, 
which are eaten here in great quantities. We saw birds too numer- 
ous to mention : great flocks of parrakeets, numbers of kites, herons, 
ducks, etc. 

In the market we found some men skinning a manati, which they 
had just harpooned in the river. It was upon its back, and was 
half skinned, so I could not get a good look at it. It was about 
seven feet long and as thick through as a small horse. Its color 
was that of a hippopotamus, its skin very thick with a few coarse 
hairs, its flesh like coarse beef in appearance and covered with heavy 
blubber. Its tail was flat and fan-shaped, with no divisions, and not 
so pointed as in the figure given. Its fore flippers were like long 
paddles and smooth, but when skinned, the different bones were 



134 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 




THE MANATI. 
(From IT. S. Fish Commission Report.) 



easily seen. Its lips were thick and fleshy, and well covered with 
stiff hairs. I promised the man a reward if he would bring me the 
skull, but he failed to do so. When we reached the hotel we had 
breakfast, after which I skinned the birds and the 'possum. 

We had intended to leave for La Guayra by the French steamer, 
and take the Red " D " Line from that place on the 30th, but for- 
tunately for us, the Royal Mail Steamer, the Derwent, was in port, 
and would leave for Curagao on the next day, so we concluded to go 
there instead, especially as we heard bad accounts of the state of 
affairs in Venezuela due to the revolution. 

Late in the afternoon we went for a drive, and upon our return 



BACK TO BARRANQUILLA. 135 

Alice began to feel badly, and spent a sleepless night, troubled with 
a high fever and severe headache. It was clear and very hot. 

Friday, July 22, 1892. Just as soon as possible after daybreak, 
I secured a doctor, who found Alice suffering from malaria, and pre- 
scribed quinine. Cabell and I spent the morning in packing, and 
at one o'clock left our hotel for the station. Our train left shortly 
before two, and we reached Puerto Colombia in about an hour. 
We noticed a great change in the country since we first went over 
the road. Everything now was dry and dusty, where there were 
pools and lakes before. We saw at one place a lot of large plover, 
and some stilts that waded about in water up to their bodies. The 
ride down was extremely hot, and was very trying to Alice, who had 
a slight chill when we reached the wharf. We had to wait over an 
hour for the tug, which finally came and carried us out to the Der- 
went. Captain Buckler gave us very good staterooms, and I got 
the ship's doctor to prescribe for Alice as soon as possible. 

The steamer started about five, and in a few minutes I had to 
give in to seasickness. Cabell, however, kept well. 

It was clear and hot. 



CHAPTER VII. 



CURACAO AGAIN. 



Saturday, July 23, 1892. This morning at daybreak we had a 
magnificent view of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta. I could 
not believe at first that the immense snowy masses that apparently 
towered above us could be anything else but clouds. They appeared 
to rise abruptly from the seashore, but in reality they are some thirty 
miles inland. The highest peak is over 16,000 feet above the level 
of the sea. As the sun rose, clouds began to gather, and soon 
blotted out from our sight the last portions of the Colombian 
coast. Alice was feeling better at night, though still suffering from 
headache. I was seasick all day, so sat around and confined myself 
to a diet of toast and ginger ale. There was a perfect menagerie 
on board, belonging to the officers and crew : a tiger cat, a peccary, 
two monkeys, a red and white squirrel, a pair of thick-billed 
euphonias, and about twenty macaws, parrots, and parrakeets. The 
tiger cat, which was of the same species as those of which we pur- 
chased the skins on the Magdalena, was taller and slightly larger 
than our wild-cat, and very prettily marked. 

It was clear and hot. 

Sunday, July 24, 1892. Early this morning we passed on our 
right the island of Aruba. It is similar in appearance to Curacao, 
which place we sighted about noon. We finally entered the har- 
bor of Santa Ana between four and five. I went ashore as soon 
as possible, and secured some good rooms at the Hotel Commercio ; 
then returned, got together our baggage, and we left the ship. 
We had a large, bright room through which the trade wind blew 



CUBAgAO AGAIN. 137 

steadily, and we found it delightfully cool, and enjoyed a good 
night's rest. 

It was clear and hot. 

Monday, July 25, 1892. We stayed in or near the hotel the 
greater part of the day, and did nothing in particular. We 
secured staterooms on the Venezuela, which was expected on the 
28th. After breakfast Cabell and I took a short walk. A negro 
fishing on the wharf near the old fort gave me a very beautiful 
fish. It was about the size and somewhat of the shape of a large 
sun perch, black, with bright yellow stripes, and a brilliant blue 
line just below the eye. Each of the black scales had a little silvery 
crescent at the tip (gen. Pomacanihus). 

About four o'clock Alice and I went for a short drive to the 
southeast of the town. We found splendid roads and everything 
looking fresher and greener than when Ave were here last. The 
houses and streets were certainly very clean and prettily kept. I 
noticed at one place a gang of convicts sweeping the streets. They 
wore the ball and chain, but were not dressed in the striped clothes 
that our convicts sometimes wear. Instead, they wore a white coat 
with one red sleeve and one blue sleeve, and the legs of their 
trousers were of different colors. 

Houses, even those in the outskirts and far into the country, are 
solidly built as a general rule, but we saw a few little wattle and 
thatch huts which looked quite picturesque. 

I saw flying over the harbor a flock of five brown pelicans, and 
some medium-sized terns, gray, both above and below, with black 
crowns. 

It was clear and warm. 

Tuesday, July 26, 1892. I woke about half past five, called 
Cabell, and we took our guns, crossed the harbor, and went up over 
the hill to the spot where we hunted when here before. We saw 
the same species of birds that we had seen, and, in addition, some 
others. I saw quantities of the little ground doves, the little dark 
finches, the honey-creepers, and the chestnut-crowned yellow war- 



138 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



biers, of which I killed three, two males and a female. The female 
had no chestnut on the head, and the spots on the breast were very 
faint, almost wanting. I also saw quantities of the chestnut-col- 
lared sparrows, and shot a male. As we were walking along the 
road near the monastery, I saw a pair of partridges run through the 
hedge in front of me, and by a snap shot I killed one, a male in 
fine plumage. It was very similar to those that we had gotten in 
Guaduas, perhaps smaller, and lighter colored generally, its throat, 
chin, and forehead being butt* without the rufous of the Guaduas 
bird (Eivpsychortyx cristatus). Cabell shot one of the mocking- 
birds, which I found to be very similar to ours. This was a young 
bird with speckled breast (Mimus gilvus rqstratus). 

Upon one of the hills we came across a flock of seven or eight 
large pigeons, the "ala blanca." They seemed to be large grayish 




WATTLE HUT, CURACAO. 



CURASAO AGAIN. 139 

birds, with a white streak in each wing. Cabell got a long shot and 
struck one, but failed to get it. They were very shy, and we got 
no more shots at them. We also saw a number of doves or pioeons 
of a smaller size, intermediate between this and the ground dove. 
They were all flying at a distance and we got no shots. Later I 
shot a sparrow-hawk, a female, marked like ours, above reddish 
brown with black bars, its head bluish gray above with traces of 
rusty on the scalp ; below whitish, streaked with brown, its thighs 
whitish, cere and feet yellow, eyes brown, beak horn-blue, black^at 
the tip (Tinnunculus sjjarverius brevipennis). 

When we reached the tamarind-trees near the old convent, we 
found them in bloom and perfectly swarming with hummino'-birds. 
In a few minutes we got twenty-four ; but as there were but two 
species among them, we killed no more. They were the ruby and 
topaz (Chrysolampis moschitics) and the small emerald green (Chlo- 
rostilbon atala). We started back shortly after eight, and on the 
way we flushed some more partridges, but failed to get any. We 
found in a scrubby cactus the nest of one of the little dark-colored 
finches. It was almost spherical, with a hole in one side, and con- 
tained three eggs much like those of our field-sparrow. The ruby 
and topaz humming-birds that we killed were in very poor plumage, 
their bodies covered with undeveloped pin-feathers. We reached 
the hotel about half past nine, and after breakfast worked for sev- 
eral hours skinning our birds. In the afternoon we went for a 
long drive, this time in a northerly direction and beyond the monas- 
tery. Everything looked beautiful. The roads were well kept and 
ran between high hedges of the club cactus. Notwithstanding the 
mountains, there is a good deal of level land. In all of the little 
valleys there are small embankments, or clams, built across at inter- 
vals, — just as we make ice-ponds, — to catch any rain that may 
fall, and let the water soak in instead of running off. I saw quan- 
tities of the lizards that I saw when here before. It was cloudy 
in the morning, and rained after breakfast, but held up before we 
went out for our drive, so we found it very cool and pleasant. 



uo 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



There are three or four papers published in Curagao, and one that 
I came across was printed in the Papamiento dialect. After I had 
read some of it, I did not wonder that I found it difficult to under- 




MOFNTAIN AT CURACAO. 



stand. I give below an advertisement with the corresponding 
Spanish, so that they may be compared : — 



Plateria . . . 

Caya Grandi. 

E winkel aki ta ofrece na pu- 
blico su sirbishi, garantizando 
tur trabauw pa bon ejecucion i 
bon o-usto. Tambe tin di beende 
un gran surtido di, etc. 



Plateria. 

Calle Grande. 

El aqui a ofrecer al pu- 
blico sus servicios, guarantizando 
todo trabajo para buen ejecucion 
y buen gusto. Tambien tiene y 
viende un oran surtido de, etc. 



In Papamiento the name Curacao is spelled Corsouw. It is a 



CURACAO AGAIN. 141 

phonetic derivation from Spanish with a mixture of Dutch (as in 
the word winkel above), but in many cases there is an omission of 
syllables, as, for instance, " tur lo ke ta " is in Spanish " todo lo 
que esta." Whilst I am on the subject of languages, I am reminded 
to say that in Colombia a good Spanish is generally spoken. There 
are a few peculiarities that I noticed. The letter c is generally pro- 
nounced as in English without the lisping th sound that I had been 
taught was proper in Spain. The d in such words as lado, pescado, 
Colorado, etc., is generally omitted in pronunciation, thus making 
the word lao, pescao, etc. The letters b and v are interchanged in 
a hopelessly confusing way ; b is in general pronounced v, but the 
rule to the contrary is sometimes observed, as, for instance, the 
word for twenty, veinte, I heard pronounced beinte. There are 
some delicate shades of meaning expressed by uses of the aug- 
mentative and diminutive terminations. Temprano means early, 
tempranito means very early, or soon in the morning: " i Esta todo 
arreglado?" means, Is all arranged, or ready? "^Esta todito arre- 
giado ? " Is every single thing ready ? The ordinary appellation 
for servants is hombre, in preference to mozo. 

Wednesday, July 27, 1892. Cabell and myself went out early 
this morning to the same place that Ave visited the day before. 
When we reached the spot where we had seen the pigeons, I crept 
up cautiously, got a long flying shot and killed one, a male. It 
was a large bird, the size of a common pigeon, its beak light flesh- 
color, the nostrils pinkish, eyes reddish, skin around them blue, 
around this a circle of brown roughened skin looking like the sand- 
paper on a match-box. It was of the usual dove-color, becoming 
bluish on the rump, lighter below, the tail plain grayish with no 
bars or marks, the scapulars brownish gray, a diagonal white band 
from the wrist-joint to the scapulars, the primaries and secondaries 
sepia with fine white edges. The feathers of its iris were prettily 
marked ; each was something like a miniature turkey's feather ; a 
narrow band of black at the tip, and above this a strip of metallic 
color, giving the neck a barred appearance. The feet were large 



142 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

and of a deep pinkish red (Columba gymnopthalma). A little 
farther on Cabell shot an oriole similar to the one we had killed 
at Barranqnilla. It was the size of our Baltimore oriole, brilliant 
yellow, its throat, chin, spot from eye to beak, tail, and wings black, 
wing with a white bar and many feathers edged with white, some 
of the tail-feathers white tipped [Icterus xanthornus curasoensis, 
Ridgw.). This was the bird that our guide had called a troupial 
when we were here before. A little later Cabell shot another, which 
was also a male, but was dull olive-yellow, darker on the tail and 
wings and lighter below. We also got another mocking-bird and a 
honey-creeper like the one that we killed before, but having its 
throat and supra-orbital stripe yellow. 

From this place we crossed over to the seashore, where, on the 
edge of some salt-pans, I shot a young male spotted sandpiper 
(Actitis macular ia). This was in the unspotted plumage, its breast 
plain white. We saw very many humming-birds, but shot none, as 
they were all of the same species as those that we had killed the day 
before. We also saw in a mangrove swamp a pair of small herons, 
which I took to be our green heron, a number of the medium-sized 
doves, a medium-sized tern, apparently pure white, and a very small 
one, white with a black crown. We reached the hotel before break- 
fast, and afterwards skinned our birds. In the afternoon we went 
for a long drive. I carried my camera and took a number of views. 
We saw great numbers of humming-birds and ground doves, and 
three partridges running along the road with their crests up. I 
also saw several sparrow-hawks, and a hawk of much larger size 
flying at a distance. 

Donkeys are used a great deal around Curacao. We saw many 
men and women riding them, the women sitting astride of the little 
animals, with their big toes thrust in loops of cord which served as 
stirrups. It was partially cloudy and cool. 

Thursday, July 28, 1892. The Venezuela came in shortly after 
daybreak this morning, so as soon as we were up we went over to 
see our friends on board. After our return to the hotel I took my 



^~— 




J. &. Keulemans del . T „ ^ _ ,_, T T ^ ^ „ _ _ T Mintem. Bros . Chromo litK. Londort. 

ICTERUS .XANTHORNUS CURASOENSIS,ifc%w. 
Curacao Qpiole . 



CURACAO AGAIN. 



143 



camera and went up to Fort Nassau on the hill back of the town, 
whence I took several views of the harbor. I passed on my way 
some tamarind-trees in bloom, around which were quantities of 
humming-birds of the two species. I also saw numbers of the 
chestnut-crowned yellow warblers, the honey-creepers, and the 




ABORIGINES OF CURACAO. 



mocking-birds, and three sparrow-hawks. In the afternoon we went 
for a long drive to the southeast of the town. At a point on the 
southern edge of the Lagoon we passed some large shallow salt- 
water pools, where I saw wading about sand snipe of three different 
sizes, but could recognize none of them. I also saw at a distance a 
large hawk that flew like our marsh-hawk. I regret that we could 
not stay here long enough to work up thoroughly the birds of the 
island. In the course of our drive we passed many attractive-looking 



144 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



country places surrounded, by cool groves of fruit and palm trees. 
The nisperos were in perfection. They much resemble a russet apple, 
but are soft and pulpy, with large flat seeds. The pulp is very 
sweet, like unrefined sugar, and though I did not care for them at 
first, I soon grew to like them. I also tried some cashews, or cachiis, 
and found them not unpleasant, but my unfortunate curiosity led me 
to bite into one of the kidney-shaped excrescences at the larger end. 
Be warned by me, and if you ever have a cachii, avoid the bean. 







•? *Vjfc 







-jf'lJxfA .; A t. /</ y 




DONKEY TEAM. CURASAO. 



Of all the most disgusting, acrid, bitter, burning, clinging tastes 
this is the worst, and though I went no farther than to stick my 
teeth into it, it was hours before I could rid myself of the taste, 
even though I repeatedly rinsed my mouth with pure alcohol. 

During our stay here we saw many fish in the harbor, but they 



CURAQAO AGAIN. 145 

did not seem to bite at all. Great numbers of a fish not much 
larger than a sardine are caught in cast nets. Some of them are 
dried and sold thus, tied up in little bundles like cigars ( Trachurops 
sj).). Very good food fish are caught outside. Among them I 
noticed " el capitan," a fish much like our scup, about a pound and 
a half in weight, and with red pectoral and ventral fins, and the 
"king fish," eight or nine pounds in weight, a species of mack- 
erel of a uniform dark color. Of the shellfish, I saw quantities of 
sand fiddlers, a few crabs of larger size, deep mahogany red with 
white claws, and some large lobsters, much like ours but without 
the two big claws and with very long antennae. There are said to 
be some rabbits on the island and a few snakes, but we saw none. 

The natives here have a peculiar way of hitching two donkeys to 
a cart. One is put between the shafts, whilst the other has no other 
harness than a loop around its neck, one end of which is tied to the 
nearest shaft. Oxen are not yoked as with us, but a cross-bar is 
lashed to their horns, the weight thus coming just on their fore- 
heads. It was clear and hot. 

Friday, July 29, 1892. As the Venezuela was to leave in the 
afternoon, we were busy all the morning, cleaning our guns and giv- 
ing a final packing to our baggage. We finally went aboard about 
two o'clock, but it was not until after six that we left the harbor 
and headed for La Guayra. We had supper immediately after get- 
ting outside, and when we came up on deck afterwards it had 
grown dark, and the island of Curacao had faded from our view. 
It was clear and hot. 

Saturday, July 30, 1892. When I went out on deck this morn- 
ing we were within a few miles of La Guayra. The view was beau- 
tiful. The town lay on a narrow strip of land at the foot of a 
mountain that rose abruptly from the sea until its top was hidden 
from us by clouds. A few houses above the town were actually 
built in niches which had been excavated to receive them. To our 
right we could trace by the cuttings the railroad winding its way up 
to Caracas ; to our left lay the main portion of the town, above which 



CUBAgAO AGAIN. 147 

was seen the roof of the bull-fighting- arena, and higher up on the 
mountain-side a little pill-box of a fort. There was a Venezuelan 
man-of-war in the harbor, a dirty little steamer about the size of the 
average steam yacht. We tied up alongside a strong-looking pier 
and breakwater of concrete and iron, out upon which ran the tracks 
of the railroad, a narrow-gauge road with English cars and locomo- 
tives, the passenger coaches looking like a second-hand summer 
street car. Shortly after we had tied up, Cabell and I took a short 
walk up into the town. We found it indescribably filthy and bad 
smelling, the stores dirty, narrow, dark, and overhung with cob- 
webs. There was an air of general stagnation of business, due no 
doubt to the revolution then in progress. There is a fine stream 
tumbling down the mountain through the centre of the town. It is 
walled in on either side. We found the heat so oppressive that we 
soon returned to the ship. On the wharf we were much interested 
in seeing the fishermen come in. They go out to sea in little cockle- 
shell dug-outs of a different design from those used at Barranquilla. 
These are skiff-shaped, ride very high in the water with both ends 
clear, and are painted. The fishermen squat on the bottom in the 
middle of the boat, and, using a single-bladed paddle which they 
change from side to side about every third stroke, they skim swiftly 
over the water. They brought in some fine fish, some that I rec- 
ognized, others that I did not. Among them were several fine red 
snappers and Spanish mackerel ; some fish of the mackerel species, 
about a yard long, with heavy teeth and of a uniform dark color 
(Cero sp.); some perch-like fish with yellow longitudinal stripes 
(Pomacentrus sp.) ; a small brown fish very like our chogset, but 
with circular dots of sky-blue all over its body (Hwmulon sp.) ; a 
few small flat fish, and an eel, broad and thin, brown with light 
yellow dots, a wide opening mouth with vicious-looking teeth 
(gen. Murcena). The water was marvelously clear, and looking over 
from the pier we saw some of the most beautiful fish that I have 
ever seen. There were some little fish marked with broad black 
and yellow bars like a sheepshead, some fool-fish (Alutera sp.),and 



148 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

some of the brilliant yellow and black ones like the one that I saw 
in Curacao ; but the most beautiful of all was what the men on the 
wharf called " loro," or parrot. As well as I could see, it was of 
the same shape as the black and yellow ones, its head and neck a 
vivid blue, its body light green, its tail a golden yellow, and its fins 
tipped with pink (family Scar idee). We had some flying-fish for 




RED SNAPPER. 



breakfast on the steamer. They taste a little like smelts, but are 
dry. Whilst we were watching the fish a frigate pelican hovered 
over our heads for some time, coming at times within thirty yards 
of us so that we had a good view of it. The small boys on the 
wharf were catching great numbers of the little fish that were so 
abundant at Curacao (Trachurops). We left La Guayra about 
eleven o'clock, and headed north. The vessel ran steadily, and I 
fortunately escaped seasickness. Before sunset we passed Los 
Roques. 

The rest of our trip was uneventful. The sea remained as quiet 
as a mill-pond, and we made fine runs of nearly 340 miles per day. 
Among the passengers we had the pleasure of meeting our consul 
from Curagao, Captain L. B. Smith, a most agreeable gentleman, 
whom I will always regret not having met during our stay on the 



CURACAO AGAIN. 149 

island. This gentleman told me that but a few days before he had 
seen a barn-owl that was caught near the town (probably Strix 
flammed bar gel, Hartert). He also told me that on the island of 
Bonaire there were many flamingoes. It is to his enterprise that 
the town owes the drawbridge across the harbor, its ice-machine, 
and other improvements. Since my visit he has sunk five artesian 
wells upon his place, Planter's Rust, the combined production of 
which is 87,000 gallons of water of excellent quality per day. 
This will prove a godsend to the island, as only those who have 
been there can form an idea of the great importance of this water 
supply. 

We made the Mona Passage on Sunday afternoon. On Tuesday 
a turnstone flew around us several times and finally went off in the 
direction of the Bermudas. On the following day a small warbler 
lit on the upper deck among the life-boats, but I could not find it. 
On Thursday we saw several schools of blackfish and a whale. 
At sundown we saw the Barnegat Light, and about eleven o'clock 
we came to anchor off quarantine. At half past eight on Friday 
morning, August 5, we landed in Brooklyn, and our trip was at an 
end. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

RESULTS OF THE TRIP. 

We had been gone from New York just fifty-four days. In that 
time we had been sixteen days on the ocean, twelve days on the 
Magdalena, and three days on the mule road ; that is, we were trav- 
eling thirty-one days. Exclusive of the shooting that we did 
during the stops of the river steamer, Cabell and I had been out 
together with our guns ten times, and he had been out three times 
alone. We brought back 210 skins. I give below lists of the 
birds that I observed in Colombia and in Curacao. Mr. Robert 
Ridgway of the Smithsonian Institution has been kind enough to 
identify the skins for me and also to assist me greatly in the prepa- 
ration of the accompanying lists. The names of those birds identi- 
fied beyond a doubt are printed in small capitals, whilst those which 
are at all doubtful are printed in italics. References after notes 
refer to colored plates of the bird. 

BIRDS OBSERVED IN COLOMBIA, SOUTH AMERICA. 

1. Phaethusa magnirostris (Licht.). Large-billed Tern. 

Abundant on the Magdalena from Barranquilla to above 
Puerto Berrio. We often saw as many as a hundred standing 
together on some of the low sand bars, and sometimes a dozen 
or more would float by us on a piece of driftwood. 

2. Anhinga anhinga (Linn.). Snake Bird. 

I saw a dozen or more of these along the Magdalena, but 
never more than two together. They were usually flying, but a 



RESULTS OF THE TBIP. 151 

few were seen perched on dead snags. Aud. B. of JV. A. vol. 6, 
pi. 420. 

3. JPhalacrocorax v'tcjua ( Vlelll.) ? Brazilian Cormorant. 

A good many small cormorants were seen flying over the 
marshes at Barranquilla, but as I did not get a specimen, I 
am doubtful about the identification. U. S. Astron. Exped. to 
Chili and Peru. 

4. Pelecanus fuscus (Linn.). Brown Pelican. 

These were the first birds that we saw as we approached our 
anchorage off the Colombian coast. We saw laro-e flocks of 
them around the seashore, but none in the interior. The Spanish 
name is "alcatraz." Aud. B. of JST. A. vol. 7, ppl. 423, 424. 

5. Cairina moschata (Linn.). Muscovy Duck. 

These ducks were seen continually from Barranqnilla to within 
a short distance of Yeguas, sometimes in enormous flocks. They 
often lit in trees when first disturbed by the steamer. The 
native name is " pato real," royal duck. I also saw ducks of 
other species, but could not identify them ; among them two species 
of Dendrocygna. 

6. Ajaja ajaja (Linn.). Roseate Spoonbill. 

We saw a few small flocks of these lovely birds at different 
places along the river. The largest contained six individuals. 
Aud. B. of N. A. vol. 6, pi. 362. 

7. Phimosus infuscatus (Licht.). Dusky Ibis. 

Mr. Ridgway identifies my description of the two shot at 
Barranqnilla as belonging to this species. I failed to save their 
skins. We saw a number at Barranqnilla, but few higher up the 
river. I saw some carrying sticks for nests on June 22. 

8. Tantalus loculator (Linn.). Wood Ibis. 

These were seen in great numbers along the river, especially 
along the central portion. When suddenly disturbed they flew 
off irregularly in different directions, but when traveling they 
kept together in strings. They usually flew with heavy wing- 
beats, but I saw many soaring at a great height with motionless 
wings. Aud. B. of N. A. vol. 6, pi. 361. 



152 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

9. Mycteria Americana (Linn.). Jabiru. 

I saw only two of these large birds, and they were on the 
lower river. I thought that they were a species of ibis, as they 
flew in just the same way, with their necks extended instead of 
doubled back like the herons. Their plumage is snowy white ; 
the beak, head, and legs black. The native name is " cabeza 
negra," black head. 

10. Ardea cocoi (Linn.). Cocoi Heron. 

Seen abundantly at every point along the Magdalena. This 
bird is very much like our great blue heron, but has more white 
below, and the entire crown is black. The Spanish name for 
heron is " garza." 

11. Ardea egretta (Gmel.). White Egret. 

I saw a great many of these birds along the river, though they 
were by no means as abundant as the preceding species. We 
sometimes saw them in small flocks, but rarely saw more than 
two of the cocoi herons flying together. Aud. B. of N. A. vol. 
6, pi. 370. 

12. Ardea candidissima (Gmel.). Snowy Heron. 

These beautiful little birds were by far the commonest of the 
herons. We saw them continually, and at some places the muddy 
edges of the river were lined with, them. Towards nightfall 
they flew overhead, going to their roosting-places in large flocks. 
Aud. B. ofN. A. vol. 6, pi. 374. 

13. Butorides cyanurus (Vieill.). Blue-tailed Heron. 

I saw a good many of these in the marshes near Barranquilla, 
and I shot one ; but unfortunately it was stolen by a cat before 
I had skinned it. They are smaller than our green heron, but 
similar. 

14. Ionornis martinica (Linn.). Purple Gallinule. 

I saw a few in the marshes at Barranquilla, and wounded one, 
but failed to get it. Aud. B. of N. A. vol. 5, pi. 303. 

15. Himantopus mexicanus (Mull.). Black-necked Stilt. 

From the train I saw several pairs of these birds wading in 



RESULTS OF THE TRIP. 153 

some pools a few miles below Barranquilla. I saw them both in 
June and in the latter part of July. And. B. of N. A. vol. 6, 
pi. 354. 

16. Jacana nigra (Gmel.). Black Jacana. 

These birds were abundant in the marshes around Barran- 
quilla, especially where there were lily pads floating- on the sur- 
face of the water. They were very noisy, and often held their 
wings up vertically, as some snipe do, as if stretching. I saw 
some with their under parts lighter colored, probably young. 

17. Eupsychortyx leucotis (Gould). White-eared Partridge. 

The two killed by my brother at Guaduas were identified by 
Mr. Ridgway as belonging to this species. We saw numbers of 
partridges at Guaduas, at Honda, and at Barranquilla, but did 
not succeed in getting others, so cannot tell if they were all of 
the same species or not. We found it impossible to flush them a 
second time ; and it so happened that whenever we got shots, 
our guns were loaded with dust shot, so we failed to stop the 
birds. At Barranquilla I heard partridges uttering the familiar 
call " bob-white." Gould, Hon. of Odontophorince. 

18. Stegnolcema montagnii (Bonaj).) ? " Guacharaca." 

I saw one of these domesticated at Honda, and lower on the 
river I saw a small flock in the edge of the forest. The identifi- 
cation is from my meagre description, and therefore is very 
doubtful. 

19. Chauna derbiana (Gray). Colombian Screamer. 

We saw a few of these birds on the lower Magdalena. They 
were either perched in the tops of dead trees, or walking- about 
on the ground like turkeys. I saw a pair domesticated. They 
kept with the poultry, and walked about in a very slow and dig- 
nified manner. PL 11, P. Z. S. 1864. 

20. Columba rufina (Temm.). Green-naped Pigeon. 

I shot a fine specimen on the Magdalena, and my brother 
killed a second one at Guaduas. These were the only ones that 
I saw. 



154 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

21. Zenaida ruficauda (Bonap.). Rufous-tailed Dove. 

We killed a couple of these cloves at Honda, both of which 
were males ; and we saw them frequently during our stay at that 
place. 

22. Columbigallina passerina (Linn.). Ground Dove. 

We found this little dove common at Barranquilla, Honda, 
and Guaduas. When running along on the roads, they carry 
their tails held up very prettily. Aud. B. of N. A. vol. 5, pi. 
283. 

23. COLUMBIGALLINA RUFIPENNIS (BONAP.). RllfoUS GrOUlld 

Dove. 
We saw a few of these at Barranquilla and at Honda. They 
are not so abundant as the preceding- species. 

24. Gypagus papa (Linn.). King Vulture. 

We saw three individuals on the Magdalena a short distance 
above Barranquilla. They were all perched in dead trees, which 
grew in overflowed marshes. Descourtilz, Orn. Bresilienne. 

25. Cathartes aura (Linn.). Turkey-buzzard. 

Common at Barranquilla, Honda, and Guaduas, but not so 
abundant as the following species. Aud. B. of N. A. vol. 1, 
pi. 2. 

26. Catharista atrata (Bartr.). Black Vulture. 

Very abundant at every point that we visited in Colombia. 
They collect in immense numbers around slaughter-houses, and 
on sand bars in the river when they observe a fisherman cleaning 
his catch. Aud. B. of N. A. vol. 1, pi. 3. 

27. Rostrhamus sociabilis (ViEiLL.). Everglade Kite. 

These were very abundant at Barranquilla, and flew about 
over the marshes just as do our marsh-hawks. Baird, Cassin & 
Lawrence, B. of N. A. pi. 65. 

28. RlTPORNIS MAGNIROSTRIS (GaiEL.). 

My brother killed one at Guaduas, which was the only one 
that I saw. The natives called it a " garrapatero," or tick-eater ; 
but they apply this name to the milvago and also to the ani. 



RESULTS OF THE TRIP. 155 

29. Lleterospizias meridionalis (Lath.) ? Rufous Buzzard. 

Mr. Ridgway identifies thus the large rufous-winged hawks 
that I saw over the grassy meadows at Yeguas. Having nothing 
but my description to go by, I have indicated the identification 
as doubtful. 

30. Falco sparverius (Linn.) ? Sparrow-hawk. 

The remarks for the preceding species apply to this. Those 
that I saw from the train above Yeg-uas were near enouoh to 
distinguish the crescent marks on the head, and to all appear- 
ances were the same as our species. Aud. B. of N. A. vol. 1, 
pi. 22. 

31. Polyborus clieriway (Jacq.) ? Audubon's Caracara. 

This large carrion hawk I saw at a number of places along the 
river, and on our down trip my brother shot a young one in poor 
plumage ; but it stunk so from its last meal that I did not skin 
it. Aud. B. of N. A. vol. 1, pi. 4. 

32. Milvago chimachima (Vieill.). " Chimachima." 

This carrion hawk was common around Barranquilla and at 
other points higher up the river. They were noisy, and, whilst 
uttering their cries, held their heads back until it seemed that 
they would topple over backwards. 

33. Pandion hali^etus carolinensis (Gmel.). Fish-hawk. 

I saw a few fish-hawks along the upper Magdalena. Aud. B. 
ofJST. A. vol. 1, pi. 15. 

34. Bubo mexicanus (Gmel.). Striped Horned Owl. 

My brother shot one that was roosting in some thick coffee 
plants at Guaduas. 

35. Aka araratjna (Linn.). Blue and Yellow Macaw. 

This was by far the commonest macaw seen, and was abundant 
as far up the Magdalena as Yeguas, where the heavy forest 
ended. Their discordant cries woke us in the mornings, and we 
saw many of them Hying to roost just before sunset. I saw a 
partly fledged one at Mompos on June 25. Descourtilz, Orn. 
Bresil. 



156 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

36. Ara macao (Linn.). Red and Yellow Macaw. 

I saw in the market at Barranquilla an Indian with one of 
these macaws, and was told that it had been caught a short dis- 
tance up the river. 

37. Ara chloroptera (Gray)*? Blue and Red Macaw. 

I saw frequently along the river a large macaw, blue, green, 
and scarlet, but without yellow on the wings. It may possibly be 
of this species. The general name for macaw is " Guacamayo." 

38. Ara severa (Linn.). Severe Macaw. 

I saw but the two specimens which I shot on June 28. 
Descourtilz, Orn. Bresil, 

39. Conurus iERUGiNO-sus (Linn.). Gray-faced Parrakeet. 

This parrakeet was extremely abundant around Barranquilla ; 
but I did not see it higher up the river. Flocks flew over the 
town in a steady stream about daybreak, and just before sunset. 

40. Brotogerys jugularis (Deville). Orange-chinned Parrakeet. 

I saw large flocks of this parrakeet all along the Magdalena 
as high up as Honda. 

41. Psittacula conspicillata (Lafr.). Blue-rumpecl Parrakeet. 

This little parrakeet I saw along the upper portion of the 
Magdalena, in some cases associated with flocks of the preceding 
species. They were common at Guaduas. They fly just like 
English sparrows. PI. in this work. 

42. Pionus MENSTRUUS (Linn.). Blue-headed Parrot. 

I saw this parrot only once, when Mr. Lindauer shot one out 
of a small flock. This was not far below Yegnas. 

43. Amazona panamensis (Cab.)? Common Green Parrot. 

I saw everywhere at Barranquilla, Honda, and Guaduas in the 
huts of the natives a green parrot with yellow forehead and 
scarlet wing edgings. It was probably of this species, though, 
as I obtained no specimen, I have marked it doubtful. 

44. Crotopliaga sulcirostris (Swains.) ? Grooved-bill Ani. 

I saw these birds in abundance at Barranquilla, Honda, and 
Guaduas ; but though I shot several, they were all in poor plu- 



RESULTS OF THE TRIP. 157 

mage, so I brought back no specimens, and am now doubtful 
whether they were of this species or C. ani. I saw them feeding 
on the swarms of grasshoppers at Honda, and I had two of their 
eggs given to me on June 28. 

45. Ramphastos citreol^emus (Gould). Citron-breasted Toucan. 

The first one that I saw was killed by Mr. Lindauer on June 
30. Along the river near this place I saw several others. The 
peacock-blue color of their eyes is peculiar. I saw at La Guayra 
a species of cacique with similarly colored eyes. Gould, Mon. 
of Ramphastidce. 

46. Ramphastos ambiguus (Swains.). Green-faced Toucan. 

I saw a large flock of these toucans at Puerto Berno, but our 
steamer stopped there such a short time that I killed only one. 
Gould, Mon. of Ramphastidm. 

47. Pteroglossus torquatus (Gmel.). Collared Aragari. 

I shot two of these and saw five or six others on the Ma«xla- 
lena a short distance below Yeguas. Gould, Mon. of Ramphas- 
ticlce. 

48. Bucco ruficollis (Wage.). Rufous-throated Puff Bird. 

I saw a good many of these near Barranquilla, and a few 
higher up the river. They sit quietly on a dead twig, and look 
much like small kingfishers. Sclater, Mon. of Jacamars and 
Puff Birds, pi. 29. 

49. Bucco subtectus (Scl.). Narrow-banded Puff Bird. 

I saw but the one specimen that my brother shot on June 28 
on the lower Magdalena. Sclater's Monograph, pi. 27. 

50. Galbula ruficauda (Cuv.). Rufous-tailed Jacamar. 

I saw about a half dozen of these birds on the Magdalena. 
They sit about quietly like kingfishers. My brother saw at 
Consuelo a jacamar which he described as larger and brilliantly 
colored, but we did not get a specimen. This was probably 
Jacamarops grandis. Sclater's Monograph, pi. 4. 

51. Ceryle torquata (Linn.). Great Rufous-bellied Kingfisher. 

52. Ceryle amazona (Lath.). Amazonian Green Kingfisher. 



158 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

53. Ceryle Americana (Gmel.). Brazilian Green Kingfisher. 

These three kingfishers we found abundant from the month of 
the Magdalena until we left the river at Honda. The last was 
not so common as the first two ; but we found it at Guaduas, 
where we did not see the others. Sharpe, Mon. of the Alcedi- 
nidce, vol. 1. 

54. Centurus terrioolor (V. Berl.). Berlepsch's Woodpecker. 

My brother shot a specimen at Guaduas, where I also saw sev- 
eral. I saw one enter a hole in a dead tree, so it was probably 
nesting. At BarranquiUa and at Honda I saw various wood- 
peckers, but did not obtain specimens. 

55. Stenopsis ruficervix (Scl.). Rufous-necked Goat-sucker. 

We found a small flock of these among some stunted bushes 
near BarranquiUa, and obtained two females. PI. 11, P. Z. S. 
1866. 

56. Nyctidromus albicollis (Gmel.). "Parauque." 

I saw but the one which I shot on the Magdalena on June 28. 
At niolit, along the river, we often heard the cries of various 
night-birds, some of them very like our " whip-poor-will." 

57. Nyctibius grandis (Gmel.). Grand Potoo. 

I saw but the one which my brother shot below Yeguas on 
July 16. 

58. Glaucis hirsuta (Gmel.). 

I saw a good many of these humming-birds along the river. 
They were in the heavy forests, and fed on the blossoms of a 
species of canna which grew in the glades near the water. A 
female that I shot on June 28 had white feathers scattered about 
anion a- the green of the back. On the same clay I found one of 
their nests, but it did not contain eggs. It was woven to the 
swinging tip of a plantain leaf. Humming-birds. Gould's Jlono- 
graph. 

59. Ph^tthornis superciliosus (Linn.). 

I saw two or three in Guaduas, and shot one which was in 
poor plumage. 



RESULTS OF THE TRIP. 159 

60. Lampornis nigricollis (Vieill.). Black-throated Humming- 

bird. 
We found this bird common in Guaduas. 

61. Hypuroptila buffoni (Less.). Button's Humming-bird. 

We obtained four or five specimens at Guaduas. 

62. Acestrura mulsanti (Bourc). Mulsant's Humming-bird. 

63. Acestrura heliodori (Bourc). Heliodore's Humming-bird. 

These two species were about equally common at Guaduas. 
From their small size they were very difficult to find when they 
fell in the underbrush. 

64. Chrysolampis moschitus (Linn.). Ruby and Topaz Hum- 

ming-bird. 
We found this species abundant at Guaduas. The full-plumaged 
male was the most beautiful humming-bird that we met. 

65. Amazilia fuscicaudata (Fraser). Rieffer's Humming-bird. 
I met with this species at two points on the Magdalena and at 

Guaduas, getting four specimens. 

66. Amazilia cyanifeons (Bourc). Blue -fronted Humming- 

bird. 
My brother shot one at Guaduas. 

67. Damophila julia (Bourc). Julia's Humming-bird. 

We obtained a number of specimens at Guaduas. 

68. POLYERATA AMABILIS (GoULD). 

I saw but the one specimen which I shot at Puerto Berrio on 
the river. It had a nest placed on top of a branch in the same 
way that our ruby-throat builds. 

69. Cyanophaia goudoti (Bourc). Goudot's Humming-bird. 
I obtained four specimens at one place on the lower river. 

70. Chlorostilbon angustipennis (Fraser). Narrow- winged 

Hummin sr-bird . 

I obtained a specimen at Barranquilla, and found it abundant 
at Guaduas. 

Humming-birds were very abundant at Guaduas, but rarely 
until the bird was shot could I tell what was the species. They 



160 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

could be seen buzzing about in the treetops, but at too great a 
distance to recognize them, unless they were of peculiar shape 
or size. My brother saw one at Guaduas which he described as 
having: a scarlet back. 

71. Milvulus tyrannus (Linn.). Fork-tailed Flycatcher. 

I saw a few at Guaduas and a good many at Honda. Their 
flight was extremely graceful. Aud. B. of N. A. vol. 1, 
pi. 52. 

72. Tyrannus melancholicus (Vieill.). Melancholy Flycatcher. 

73. Myiozetetes cayennensis (Linn.). Cayenne Flycatcher. 

These flycatchers were common all along from Barranquilla to 
Honda, and around Guaduas. 

74. Megarhynchus pitangua (Linn.) ? Pitangua Flycatcher. 

The large-billed, rufous, and yellow flycatcher which we got at 
Barranquilla was probably of this species ; but as I did not bring 
back a specimen, I have marked it doubtful. 

75. Fluvicola pica (Bodd.). Pied Flycatcher. 

This conspicuous little bird was abundant in the marshes around 
Barranquilla, and I saw others at points higher up the river. 

76. Xanthosomus icterocephalus (Linn.). Yellow - headed 

Blackbird. 
I saw large flocks of this bird around Barranquilla. 

77. Icterus icterus (Linn.). Troupial. 

I saw troupials in confinement at many places along the Mag- 
clalena and at Guaduas, but none in a state of freedom. Aud. 
B. of N. A. vol. 7, pi. 499. 

78. Icterus xanthornus (Gmel.). Yellow Oriole. 

Common at Barranquilla. 

79. Cassicus flavicrissus (Scl.). Yellow-vented Cacique. 

80. Ostinops decumanus (Pall.). " Oro pendola." 

81. Gymnostinops guatimozinus (Bonap.). " Oro pendola." 

We got one specimen of each of the foregoing species on the 
Magdalena on June 28. Higher up the river we saw many strug- 
gling flocks of the two last. Fauna B'tologia Centr. Artier. 



RESULTS OF THE TRIP. 161 

82. Quiscalus assimilis (Sol.). Colombian Grackle. 

This large grackle was abundant around Barranquilla, and 
often lit in the cocoa palms that grew in the hotel yard. They 
may have had nests in these palms, but from seeing one with an 
unfledged young bird in its beak, I am inclined to think that 
they were robbing the nests of smaller birds. 

83. Sycalis columbiana (Cab.). Red-fronted Finch. 

I saw a few of these near Barranquilla. In our hotel there 
was one caged which sang very well. 

84. Volatinia splendens (Bonap.). Blue-black Finch. 

I saw but the one specimen which I shot near Barranquilla. 

85. Ramphocelus dimidiatus (Lafr.). Cardinal Tanager. 

This tanager was abundant all along the Magdalena and at 
Guaduas. The native name is "cardinal." Mag. de Zool. 
1837, pi. 81. 

86. Ramphocelus ictebonotus (Bonap.). Yellow-rumped Tana- 

ger. 
I saw but the one which I shot at Puerto Berrio. 

87. Tanagba can a (Swains.). Blue Tanager. 

This tanager is common and I found it from Barranquilla to 
Honda and at Guaduas. I observed a nest Avith eggs nearly 
hatched at Barranquilla in June. The native name is " azulejo," 
bluebird. 

88. Tachyphonus melaleucus (Spabbm.). White-shouldered 

Tanager. 
I saw several at Guaduas, and my brother shot one. 

89. Euphonia cbassibostbis (Scl.) Thick-billed Euphonia. 

I saw but the one specimen which my brother shot on the 
Magdalena on June 28. 

90. Pipba aubicapilla (Licht.). Gold-headed Manikin. 

I saw but the one specimen shot on the Magdalena by Mr. 
Lindauer on June 29. 

91. Tachycineta albwentris (Bodd.) ? White-winged Swallow. 
The little swallow that I saw along the Magdalena may be of 



162 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



this species. I thought, however, that the body of the bird was 

Avhite and the wings black, and therefore I leave it doubtful. 

The birds which I observed but did not identify would, I think, 
exceed the above list. Among them were two terns, two ducks, two 
or three herons, several sand snipe and plover, pigeons, many hawks, 
an owl, parrots, a toucan, several woodpeckers, humming-birds, 
many flycatchers, several orioles, finches, warblers, swallows, 
thrushes, and many wrens. 

The following is a list of the humming-birds sent to me from 
Bogota by Mr. Child : — 



1. 


Glaucls hirsuta. 


20. 


2. 


Phaetbornis erniliae. 


21. 


3. 


Pbaethornis anthophilus. 


22. 


4. 


Campylopterus lazulus. 


23. 


5. 


Lafresnaya flavicaudata. 


24. 


6. 


Hypuroptila buffoni. 


25. 


7. 


Florisuga mellivora. 


26, 


8. 


Petasphora anais. 


27. 


9. 


Petasphora cyanotis. 


28. 


10. 


Panoplites fiaveseens. 


29. 


11. 


Heliodoxa leadbeateri. 


30. 


12. 


Pterophanes temmincki. 


31. 


13. 


Docimastes ensiferus. 


32. 


14. 


Helianthea typica. 


33. 


15. 


Bouvcieria torquata. 


34. 


16. 


Floricola longirostris. 


35. 


17. 


Heliotrypha exortis. 


36. 


18. 


Thalurania columbica. 


37. 


19. 


Acestrura mulsanti. 


38. 



Acestrura heliodori. 
Lesbia gouldi. 
Lesbia amaryllis. 
Cyanthus forficatus. 
Rbampbomicron heteropogon. 
Rhamphomicron niicrorhynchum. 
Metallura tyriantbina. 
Chrysuronia senone. 
Adelomyia melanogenys. 
Aglseactis cupripennis. 
Eriocnemis alinae. 
Eriocnemis cupriventris. 
Eriocnemis vestita. 
Uranomitra franciae. 
Amazilia fuscicaudata. 
Amazilia cyanifrons. 
Hylocharis sappbirina. 
Chlorostilbon angustipennis. 
Panychlora poortmani. 



It will always be a source of regret to me that before starting 
upon our trip I had not been able to obtain any information con- 
cerning the island of Curagao other than that contained in the 
Encyclopaedia and in the folder of the Red "D" Line. It is true 
that I did not make any great effort to this end, as at the time I 
expected that we would simply stop on the island between ships and 



RESULTS OF THE TRIP. 163 

have no opportunity to collect any birds. When we finally arrived 
and did have a chance to get some birds, we did not work them up 
as thoroughly as Ave should have done, because I could but think 
that an island so small, and under such perfect civilization and 
government for several hundred years, must be thoroughly explored 
and known. However, at the same time of our visit, Mr. Ernst 
Hartert of England was engaged upon the ornithology of the 
three islands, Curacao, Aruba, and Bonaire, and he has subse- 
quently published (" Ibis " for July, 1893) an article giving the 
results of his work. He announces several interesting discoveries, 
and to his article I should refer all who may desire a complete 
work upon the subject. 

My observations make no definite additions to those of Mr. 
Hartert, with this exception, that is, that I took a specimen of 
the spotted sand snipe (Actitis macular la) which he mentions as 
having observed, but not taken. 

My field notes are as follows : — 

BIRDS OBSERVED ON THE ISLAND OF CURAgAO. 

1. Sterna sp. Large, dusky above, crown black. 

2. Sterna sp. Medium size, apparently pure white. 

3. Sterna sp. Very small. 

4. Pelecanus fuscus (Linn). Brown Pelican. 

I saw several flocks flying over Santa Ana Harbor. Aud. 
B. of N. A. vol. 7, ppl. 423, 424. 

5. Fregata aquila (Linn.). Frigate Pelican. 

I saw one individual flying over the harbor. The native name 
is " tijereta," scissors, or scissor-tail. Aud. B. of JV. A. vol. 7, 
pi. 421. 

6. Ardea virescens {Linn.) ? Green Heron. 

I saw flying across the harbor several small herons which I 
took to be of this species. I saw others again in the mangrove 
swamp to the northwest of the town. Aud. B. of iV. A. vol. 6, 
pi. 367. 



164: A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

7. Actitis macularia (Linn.). Spotted Sand Snipe. 

I shot a specimen in the immature unspotted plumage on the 
edge of a salt-pan north o£ the town. Along the southeast 
edge of the Lagoon I saw in July several species of sand snipe, 
but I did not have my gun with me and obtained no specimens. 
And. B. of N. A. vol. 5, pi. 342. 

8. Eupsychortyx cristatus (Linn.). Crested Partridge. 

I obtained but one specimen of this partridge, though I saw a 
good many. Three was the greatest number that I saw together. 
In June I saw half-grown young ones in captivity. Gould, 
Mon. of Odontophorince. 

9. Columba gymnopthalma (Temm.). White-winged Pigeon. 

I saw a young one in captivity in June, and in July I saw a 
flock of perhaps a dozen individuals, from which I obtained one 
specimen. 

10. Zenaida sp. 

I saw many doves of a medium size, but obtained no speci- 
men. They were probably Z. vinaceo-rufa (Kidgw.). 

11. Columbigallina passerina (Linn.). Ground Dove. 

I found this little dove very abundant. It was probably the 
commonest bird on the island. Aud. B. of N. A. vol. 5, pi. 283. 

12. Tinnunculus sparverius brevipennis (V. Berl.). Curacao 

Sparrow-hawk. 
I saw a good many of these hawks. There is the same differ- 
ence in color between the sexes as in our species. I was told that 
they fed on lizards. 

13. A large hawk that I saw several times at a distance may have 
been Buteo albicaudatus colonics (V. Berl.). 

14. Conxjrus pertinax (Linn.). Yellow-headed Parrakeet. 

I saw many of these in captivity, some of them barely fledged, 
and was told that they were caught on the island, but I saw no 
others. 

15. Chrysolampis moschitus (Linn.). Ruby and Topaz Hum- 

ing-bird. 



RESULTS OF THE TRIP. 165 

I saw none of these in June, but in July the tamarind-trees 
were in bloom, and there were swarms around every tree. 
Nearly, all, however, were in poor plumage, as they were just 
moulting. Gould's Monograph. 

16. Chlorostilbon atala (Less.). Atala Humming-bird. 

I saw many of these in June and more in July, when they also 
were feeding on the tamarind blossoms. Gould's Monograph. 

17. Icterus icterus (Linn.). Troupial. 

•All of the troupials that I saw were caged birds, but I was 
told that the bird is found and breeds on the island. The 
natives apply the name "troupial" or " turupial " to both this 
and the following species, so that I cannot tell how much 
weight to give to my information. Aud. B. of N. A. vol. 7, 
pi. 499. 

18. Icterus xanthornus curasoensis (Ridgw.). Curagao Oriole. 

I saw a small flock of five or six in June, and in July I saw 
three more. PI. in this work. 

19. Zonotrichia pileata (Bodd.). Pileated Sparrow. 

This handsome sparrow I found quite common in a little valley 
near the monastery. Descourtilz, Ornithologie Bresilienne. 

20. Euetheia bicolor (Linn.). Grassquit. 

We saw quantities of these wherever we went on the island. 
On July 26 we found a nest with three eggs. 

21. Ccereba uropygialis (V. Berl.). Curagao Honey-creeper. 

I saw but few in June, but in July they were abundant, and 
were seen in the tamarind-trees with the humming-birds. They 
have a feeble lisping song more like that of an insect than that 
of a bird. 

22. Dendroica rufo-pileata (Ridgw.). Curagao Warbler. 

These were abundant. Their song is much like that of our 
yellow warbler. 

23. Mimus gilvus rostratus (Ridgw.). Curagao Mocking-bird. 

These birds were abundant. I even saw some singing from 
the housetops in the town. Both of my specimens were young, 



166 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

and had speckled breasts. The native name is " ruisenor/' which 

is the Spanish for nightingale. 

The barn-owl mentioned by Captain Smith was doubtless Strix 
flammed bargei (Hartert). 

For the benefit of those who may not have access to Mr. Har- 
tert's article, I give here his list of the birds of the island of 
Cnragao : — 

1. Larus atricilla (Linn.). 

2. Sterna hirundo (Linn.). 

3. Sterna maxima (Bodcl.). 

4. Phalacrocorax brasilianns (Gin.). 

5. Fregata acprila (Linn.). 

6. Pelecanus fuscns (Linn.). 

7. Hsematopns palliatns (Temm.). 

8. Himantopus mexicanus (Mtill.). 

9. Totanus macularins (Linn.). Actitis macularia. 

10. Butorides (Ardea) virescens (Linn.). 

11. Ardea candidissima ? (Gm.). 

12. Ardea herodias (Linn.). 

13. Eupsychortyx cristatus (Linn.). 

14. Colnmbigallina passerina perpallida (Hartert). C. passerina. 

15. Leptoptila verreauxi (Bp.). 

16. Zenaida vinaceo-rnfa (Ridgw.). 

17. Colnmba gymnopthalma (Temm.). 

18. Strix flammea bargei (Hartert). 

19. Polyborns cheriway (Jacq.). 

21. Tinnnncnlns sparverius brevipennis (V. Berl.). 

21. Buteo albicandatns colonus (Y. Berl.). 

22. Connrns pertinax (Linn.). 

23. Crotophaga snlcirostris (Sw.). 
21. Stenopsis cayennensis (Gm.). 

25. Chlorostilbon caribaens (Lawr.). C. atala. 

26. Chrysolampis mosqnitns (Linn.). 



RESULTS OF THE TRIP. 167 

27. Tyrannus dominicensis (Gm.). 

28. Sublegatus glaber (Sol. & Salv.). 

29. Myiarchus brevipennis (Hartert). 

30. Elainea martinica riisii (Scl.). 

31. Hirimdo erythrogastra (Bodd.). 

32. Icterus icterus (Linn.). 

33. Icterus xantbornus curasoensis (Ridgw.). 

34. Euetheia sharpei (Hartert). E. bicolor. 
"35. Zonotricbia pileata (Bodd.). 

36. Ammodramus savannarum (Gm.). 

37. Certbiola uropygialis (V. Berl.). 

38. Dendroica rufo-pileata (Ridgw.). 

39. Mimus gilvus rostratus (Ridgw.), 



CHAPTER IX. 

A FEW SUGGESTIONS. 

I think that I may say without egotism that I can sometimes 
make a fair bird-skin, and the fact that others could do the same 
was to me, at one time, nothing remarkable, but now I regard with 
great respect the man who can go to the tropics and return with a 
collection of o^ood skins. 

Until we have experienced them ourselves, we do not realize the 
difficulties that beset the collector in the tropics. Suppose that you 
have come in at nightfall with ten or fifteen birds that you wish to 
save. You have your supper, and then you begin to realize that 
you are tired and sleepy, but still you start to work. You have a 
wretched spluttering tallow-dip for light, and mosquitoes come in 
clouds to harass you. However, you keep bravely on and finish 
one good skin, then look at your watch. You have, if the bird is 
a medium-sized one, been at work just twenty minutes; at this rate 
you will be four or five hours longer. The prospect is too much for 
you ; you make two or three more skins, then hang up the rest of 
the birds in the coolest place that you can find, and say that you 
will begin upon them at daybreak the next morning. When you 
wake, you at once notice a peculiar smell ; you examine your birds ; 
they are putrid, and must be thrown away at once. You still have 
the skins left, and later you take a look at them. You find them 
covered with thousands of little red ants, the skin of their feet and 
their eyelids have already been eaten off, and many feathers have 
been cut away, leaving unsightly bald patches. You take each skin, 
blow and dust off the ants, clean them thoroughly, and replace them 



A FEW SUGGESTIONS. 169 

upon the drying- board, which you suspend by strings. In less than 
an hour the ants have found them again. You clean them a second 
time, and now anoint the strings with carbolic acid, tar, kerosene 
oil, and camphor, any of which you think would turn back an 
insect with the slightest self-respect, but your trouble is for naught. 
Later you find that water is the only thing that will keep them back, 
so you borrow cans and plates, fill them with water, and arrange 
pedestals upon which you think that your skins are safe. After a 
while you hear a buzzing, you look at your skins, and see some 
large green flies upon them. You drive them away, but the next 
day you find gimlet-holes through the heads and beaks of your 
birds. They were made by maggots hatched from eggs of the flies. 
When at last your skins are dry, you go to pack them, and as you 
lift them up, black beetles scurry out from under them. You find 
that they have burrowed between the skin and bones of the tarsi 
and wings of your skins, until they are mere shells ready to fall in 
pieces at a touch. You collect up to the last day of your stay, and 
have some green skins which you pack with the greatest care. 
After two days on mule-back you arrive at your next station, and at 
once proceed to air your skins. The green ones are dry enough 
now ; but what horrible monstrosities ! — their necks twisted and bent, 
their feathers lying the wrong way, their bodies distorted. Some of 
your skins that you thought were thoroughly dried were evidently 
not so, as they are now covered with a fungous mould, their black 
beaks a pale silvery color crumbling at the touch. You resolve to 
do better at this place, and you put your drying skins out in the 
sun. In a little while you hear a noise, and look out in time to see 
a black vulture flying up to the roof with your best skin, one that 
you have taken especial pains to preserve. You stand helplessly 
looking on until it is torn in pieces and left in disgust. After that, 
you keep your skins indoors, but that night the mice take a fancy 
to examine them, and the next morning you find the floor strewn 
with wings and tails. It is but poor consolation to think that the 
arsenic may perhaps have poisoned the mice. 



170 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



All this may be thought overdrawn, but everything that I have 
related above occurred to me, and my object in writing this chapter 
is to point out to others who may hereafter go on similar expedi- 
tions how they may avoid my troubles. 

First of all, I should advise you to collect, when possible, in the 
early morning. Get up by daybreak, and take a cup of coffee and 
a mouthful of food before going out. You will find all birds stir- 
ring at this hour, whilst at noon you will see few if any. Come in 
before eleven o'clock, then rest a little, have your breakfast, skin 
your birds carefully, write up your notes, prepare your ammunition, 
etc., for the next day, and go to bed early. 

Now, in regard to your skins : once that a skin has been thor- 
oughly dried in good shape it will stand packing and transportation 
with a fair amount of safety, therefore your aim should be to shape 
and dry them properly. You may travel with a large and specially 
prepared outfit, but small steamer trunks with several trays are very 
well suited for packing and drying skins, being 
lighter than chests, waterproof to some extent, 
and furnished with good locks. 

Skins, whilst drying, are undoubtedly safest 
from molestation when they are suspended, and 
are also more out of your way. A trunk-tray 
is easily hung up to a rope, a rafter, or a branch 
of a tree, your dried skins can be kept safely in 
it, and those that are drying can be placed on a 
board crosswise on the tray. The point comes 
up about the ants. I suggest the following : 
A couple of tin cups, through the bottoms of 
which pass a bar with a ring at each end. The 
tray is suspended from the lower ring, the cup in turn from the 
upper, and the cup being filled with water will effectually keep out 
the ants. I would also recommend that a piece of gauze or mos- 
quito net be spread over the tray when it is suspended. This will 
not interfere with the drying, but will prevent the damage from 




SECTION OF CUP. 



A FEW SUGGESTIONS. 171 

the green flies and beetles. Skins, when dry and packed away in 
your trunk, must also be protected from ants, and the best way is 
to carry along three or four deep tin plates which will fit into one 
another for convenience in packing. Fill these with water, put a 
stone in each, and place your trunk on these stones. 

In regard to your skinning outfit : that will depend upon your 
taste, but I recommend simplicity. I took a pair of small short- 
bladed, sharp-pointed scissors, a pair of tweezers, a pocket-knife, and 
a knitting-needle, and found this amply sufficient. A tool-handle, 
containing gimlets, screw-driver, small chisel, etc., was also very 
useful. 

For materials : I was once in favor of plaster of paris in skinning, 
but I now prefer Indian-corn meal. Take it tied up in shot-bags. 
It is not heavy, will not spill out, and packs well in your trunk. 
When you are skinning, spread out a sheet of paper, and when you 
are through pour back the meal that is left. It can be used re- 
peatedly. 

Take cotton batting with you, the kind that is sold in our dry- 
goods stores done up in tissue paper. You can roll it up in an old 
towel, and by wrapping it tightly with a strong string can compress 
it until its size is many times reduced, and it packs away well. 
Cotton is found all over Colombia, and I thought that I was doing 
something unnecessary when I carried some with me ; but in Gua- 
duas my supply gave out, and when I sent for some it was brought 
to me in little wads about the size of a walnut, and I found that I 
could no more stuff a bird with it than I could with a set of build- 
ing blocks. However, it was owing to this that I became acquainted 
with what I consider a splendid material for stuffing large and 
medium-sized birds, — I refer to oakum as used for calking vessels. 
This is inelastic and retains the shape given to it, and a bird's body 
can be modeled exactly after the one of flesh just removed. Some 
birds have wide projecting shoulders, with a deep depression be- 
tween the furculum and the neck, and it is just this shape that is 
difficult to stuff with cotton, but can be fitted like a glove with 




172 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 

oakum. I obtained the oakum 
cW&^Ssk on the river steamer. The Span- 

ish name for it is " estopa." The 
best preservative is dry arsenic, 
which should be carried in a tight 
can with a screw cap. The can 
should be conspicuously marked 
with both the English word " Poi- 
son " and the Spanish word "Ve- 
neno." 

And now, to change the subject 
abruptly, I would say a few words 
about photography. The ability 
to sketch rapidly and accurately 
is much to be envied, yet for one 
person with Mr. Catherwood's tal- 
ent, there are ten thousand with- 
out ; and then, too, how rapidly a camera does its work ! I believe 
a camera to be nowadays an essential part of every traveler's outfit ; 
yet it has its limitations. In regard to choice of cameras, it is like 
choice of shot guns ; every one thinks his own the best. I took 
with me a " Hawk-eye," taking 4X5 plates, and used glass plates 
entirely, which were developed upon my return. Many of the pre- 
ceding illustrations are from my photographs. I purchased my cam- 
era several years before for the purpose of taking pictures of objects 
of natural history ; and it is of this class of work that I wish to 
speak. 

Considering birds first, although I am aware that some students 
have taken fine pictures of them, I have not met with success. 
Those pictures that I have taken of birds in a state of freedom have 
not turned out well, usually because of the smallness of the figure 
and of the impossibility of selecting a suitable background. I have 
had wounded birds from time to time ; but it is very difficult to 



RED-TAILED HAWK (LIVING BIRD). 



A FEW SUGGESTIONS. 173 

get them in a good position ; and the best pictures are but poor. 
When seriously wounded, their listless and dejected look is not 
what is wanted in a picture, and at the best the surroimdin<rs of 
fences, cages, chains, or cords destroy the worth of the likeness. 
A dead bird is a hopeless task, and photographs of stuffed and 
mounted birds, with their dull, protuberant, and lifeless eyes are an 
abomination. I will venture to say that not one photograph in a 
hundred of mounted birds has the faintest life-like look about it. 

Leaving birds and turning to fish, we find a class that, as a rule, 
make elegant subjects for the photographer. With them I have 
been quite successful. The best to work upon are scale fish of 
moderate size; but I have made good pictures of sharks of five 
feet in length and of small fish of barely three inches. I would 




GREEN HERON (MOUNTED SKIN). 



recommend this work to lovers of photography, and will give a 
brief explanation of my process. You will need a large sheet of 
white blotting-paper, some small wire nails and pins, and a pair of 
wire-cutting pliers. Select a moderate-sized fish, with uninjured 
tail and fins, fasten your blotting-paper to a board, wipe the fish 
dry, and lay it in the centre of the sheet of paper. Cut off the 
heads of two of the wire nails, and drive them through the fish and 
into the board, one near the head, and the other near the tail. 



174 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 




Pv 



Drive the nails until they are below the level of the skin, when the 

scales will cover the 
holes, and they will 
not be seen. These 
will support the 
weight of the fish. 
Now, with your pliers 
cut off the heads of 
a number of pins, 
and use the points to 
keep spread the fish's 
tail and fins. Put 
the board on edge, and move your camera up until the fish nearly 
covers the plate. Use a very slow plate, and give plenty of expos- 
ure. When you have developed your plate, and come to print it, 
vignette closely to the fish, by which means you can get an almost 
dead white background. In case you do not use a white back- 
ground, you may still print on aristotype paper, and then, with a 
sharp eraser, scratch off all the print except the fish, thus getting a 
pure white background. This sea bass, a male, with the dorsal 



WHITE PERCH. 



/-'-'■•*< 







<, -:\/*v. 



A FEW SUGGESTIONS. 



175 




hump, characteristic of the breeding- season, printed well ; but its 
tail was badly cut up in the net. 

I believe this method would be useful to travelers who have not 
with them the means of preserving specimens of strange fish that 
they may see. It might enable them to identify these fish upon 




SCULP IN. 
(By Permission.) 



176 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



their return. The reel snapper figured on page 148 is from a 
photograph taken as described above. That this method is also 
applicable to fish without scales, the figure of a sculpin will show, 
and that the comparative value of the illustration can be judged, I 
give also a wood-cut of a sculpin, from a popular work on natural 
history. 

Crustacea may be treated in the same manner as fish, and the 

results are equally 
as satisfactory. 

The various crabs 
found along our 
coast are good sub- 
jects upon which 
to work. 

Some insects 

may be successfully 
photographed ; but 
lobsteb. here the question 

of color is so diffi- 
cult to deal with that one must be an expert before he can count 
upon the result. The black and yellow butterflies especially are 
disappointing to handle. What I have said of birds applies with 
even more force to animals, and to a less degree to reptiles. The 
colors of snakes and of terrapin are lost, and of the other reptiles, 
it is indeed rarely that one can be gotten to take a good attitude, 
and hold it long enough for a good picture. 





APPENDIX. 



LIST OF WORKS ON COLOMBIA. 

A list of the works treating of any particular subject is always of great help to 
the student who may care to investigate that subject, and. therefore I have compiled 
the following list of works on Colombia, exclusive of the literature of the Isthmus of 
Panama. The nature of many of these works is indicated by their titles ; in others 
this is not the case, and as I have not had access to many of them, nor time to read 
others, I have been compelled to adopt a chronological arrangement. I have, how- 
ever, collected the purely zoological writings and brought them together after the 
general list. 

It is to be borne in mind that in early days Colombia included at various times 
more or less of Peru, Ecuador, and Venezuela, and was known by other names as 
Tierra Firma, New Granada, etc. Examining the titles below, it will be seen that 
the earlier writings were those of the Jesuits ; then came in historical and biographi- 
cal works. In the early twenties, during the struggles of Colombia in securing her 
independence from Spain, many officers of foreign armies were attracted as adven- 
turers, and later a number of them wrote of their experiences. Then followed a 
period in which little appeared. Within the last fifteen years there has been a large 
increase in the literature on Colombia, in which the Germans have had a prominent 
part. In this compilation I have profited by Pereira's list (see No. 155). In 
Bonnycastle's work, 1819, there is a list of 146 works on Spanish America, many of 
which may have references to Colombia, but as I have not seen them I cannot 
include them. 

- 1. De insulis nuper inventis. Occeanea decas. Petrus ab Angleria Martir. 
Legatio Babilonica. Poemata. Seville, 1511. 

-- 2. La cronica del Peru. Pedro Cieza de Leon. Amberes, 1554. 
-^ 3. Elegias de varones ilustres de Indias. Juan de Castellanos. Madrid, 
1589. 

w 4. Historia de las Indias y Cronica de la Nueva Espana. Francisco Lopez 
Gomara. Madrid, 1600. 
' 5. Histoire naturelle et morale des Indes ; tant orientales qu'occidentales, par 



178 APPENDIX. 

le P. Joseph de Aeosta ; traduite en francois par R. Regnault Cauxois. Paris, 
1600. 

6= Grammatica en la lengua del nuevo reyno llamada Mosca. Bern, de Lugo. 
Madrid, 1619. 

7. Noticias historiales de las conquistas de Tierra Firme en las Indias Occiden- 
tales. Fray Pedro Simon. Cuenca, 1627. 

8. Varones ilustres del nuevo mundo, descubridores, conquistadores y pacifica- 
dores del opulento, dilatado y numeroso imperio de las Indias Occidentales. Fer- 
nando de Pizarro. Madrid, 1639. 

9. L'Histoire du nouveau monde, ou Description des Indes Occidentales. Le 
sieur Jean de Laet. Leyden, 1640. 

10. Arte y vocabulario de la lengua de los Indios de la provincia de Cumana o 
Nueva Andaleucia. Fr. de Tauste. Madrid, 1680. 

11. Historia general de la conquista del nuevo reyno de Granada. Lucas Fer- 
nandez de Piedrahita. Madrid, 1688. 

12. Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las islas i tierra firme 
del mar Occeano. Antonio de Herrera. ■ Madrid, 1729. 

13. El Orinoco ilustrado, historia natural, civil y geografica de este gran rio y de 
sus caudalosas vertientes. Le P. Joseph Gumilla de la Compagnie de Jesus. 
Madrid, 1741. 

14. Historia de la Provincia de Santa Fe, de la compania de Jesus y vidas de 
sus varones ilustres. Le P. Joseph Cassani. Madrid, 1741. 

15. Journal du voyage fait par ordre du roi a l'Equateur. M. de la Condamine. 
Paris, 1751. 

16. Historia coro-graphica, natural y evangelica de la Nueva Andalucia. Pro- 
vincias de Cumana", Guayana y Vertientes del Rio Orinoco. Fr. Antonio Caulin. 
Madrid, 1779. One quarto vol., pp. 482 + 13, engraved title, and three plates of 
murders of priests by Indians. 

17. A philosophical and political history of the settlements and trade of the 
Europeans in the East and West Indies, by the Abbe Raynal, translated by J. O. 
Justamond. London, 1783. Eight vols., many maps. (Santa Marta, Cartagena, 
and Santa Fe de Bogota' in 4th vol., pp. 58 to about 105 inch) 

18. La perla de la America, provincia de Santa Marta. Antonio Julian. Ma- 
drid, 1786. 

19. Diccionario geographico-historico de las Indias Occidentales o America. Col. 
Antonio de Alcedo. Madrid, 1786-88. 

20. Historia del Nuevo Mundo. Juan Bautista Mufioz. Madrid, 1793. 

21. Voyage a la partie orientale de la Terre-Ferme. Depons. Paris, 1806. ? \A 

22. A voyage to South America : describing at large the Spanish cities, towns, 
provinces, etc., on that extensive continent : undertaken by command of the king of 
Spain. By Don George Juan, and Don Antonio de Ulloa. Translated from the 
Spanish by John Adams. London, 1807. Two vols., pp. 28 + 479 and 4 + 419 
and index; many maps and plates. (Cartagena in first vol., pp. 19-84.) 



APPENDIX. 179 

~^ 23. Voyage clans I'interieur de l'Amerique dans les amines 1799 a 1804. Par 
A. de Humboldt et A. Bonpland. Paris, 1807-39. Six parts, 1494 plates (349 
colored), 5 maps. 

There are many other editions of Humboldt's writings. 
~- 24. Spanish America ; or a descriptive, historical, and geographical account of the 
Dominions of Spain in the Western Hemisphere, continental and insular. R. H. 
Bonnycastle. Philadelphia, 1819. One vol., pp. 482. (New Granada, pp. 159 to 
240 inch Map.) 

^ 25. Barthelemi Casas, Eveque de Chiapa : OEuvres precedees de sa vie. Paris, 
1822. 

v 26. Colombia: being a geographical, statistical, agricultural, commercial, and 
political account of that country, adapted for the general reader, the merchant, and 
the colonist. London, 1822. Two vols., pp. 124 + 707 and 782, two portraits, 
one large folding map. This is known as Walker's Colomhia. There is also a 
Spanish edition. 

27. De Republiek Columbia, of Tafereel Van Derzelver Tegenwoor. digen 
toestand en Betrekkingen ; in Brieven, van daar aan zijne vrienden geschreven, 
door Carl Richard, Hanoversch officier. Benevens eene levensschets van Simon 
Bolivar, President van Columbia. Amsterdam, 1822. One vol., pp. 285. 

28. The geography, history, and statistics of America, and the West Indies ; 
exhibiting a correct account of the discovery, settlement, and progress of the various 
kingdoms, states, and provinces of the Western Hemisphere, to the year 1822. By 
H. C. Carey and I. Lea. Philadelphia. With additions relative to the new states 
of South America. London, 1823. One vol., pp. 477, three folding maps. (Colom- 
bia, pp. 412 to 423 inch) 

29. Letters written from Colombia, during a journey from Caracas to Bogota, 
and thence to Santa Martha, in 1823. London, 1824. One vol., pp. 16 + 208, one 
large folding map. 

^ 30. Colombia : its present state, in respect of climate, soil, productions, population, 
government, commerce, revenue, manufactures, arts, literature, manners, education, 
and inducements to emigration : with an original map : and itineraries, partly from 
Spanish surveys, partly from actual observation. By Col. Francis Hall. London, 
1824. One vol., pp. 6 + 154. one map. 

31. Voyage dans la Republique de Colombia, en 1823. G. Mollien. Paris, 
1824. Two vols., pp. 4 + 308 and 316, seven colored plates, and one large folding 
map. 

32. Travels in the Republic of Colombia, in the years 1822 and 1823. By G. 
Mollien. (Translation of the above.) London, 1824. One vol., pp. 460, one 
plate, one folding map. 

* 33. Journal of a residence and travels in Colombia, during the years 1823 and 
1824. By Capt. Charles Stuart Cochrane, R. N. London, 1825. Two vols., pp. 
16 + 524 and 8 + 517, two colored plates, one large folding map. 



180 APPENDIX. 

34. Coleccion de los viajes y descubrimientos que hicieron por mar los Espaiioles 
desde fines del siglo XV. Martin Fernandez de Navarrete. Madrid, 1825-29. 
"' 35. A visit to Colombia in the years 1822 and 1823, by Laguayra and Caracas, 
over the cordillera to Bogota, and tbence by the Magdalena to Cartagena. By Col. 
Wm. Duane. Philadelphia, 1826. One vol., pp. 632, two plates, 

36. Histoire de la Colombie, par M. Lallement. Paris, 1826, second edition. 
One vol., pp. 320, one folding map and plates, 

* 37. Notes on Colombia, taken in the years 1822-3, with an itinerary of the route 
from Caracas to Bogota" ; and an appendix. Capt. Richard Bache, U. S. A. Phila- 
delphia, 1827. One vol., pp. 303, two folding maps, one plate. 

^ 38. Travels through the interior provinces of Columbia. By Col. J. P. Hamil- 
ton. London, 1827. Two vols., pp. 332 and 256, seven plates, one map. Con- 
tains many references to birds and shooting, 

J 39. Recollections of a service of three years during the war-of-extermination in 
the republics of Venezuela and Colombia. By an officer of the Colombian navy. 
London, 1828. Two vols., pp. 15 + 251 and 8 + 277. 

• 40. "Die Geschichte von Columbia, durch Dr. Ernst Munch- Dresden, 1828. 
Two vols., pp. 113 and 111. 

41. Colombia in 1826. By an Anglo-Colombian. In the Pamphleteer, vol. 29, 
London, 1828, pp. 485-505. 

■v 42. History of the life and voyages of Columbus. Washington Irving. 1828. 
Three vols. 

43. The Modern Traveller : a popular description, geographical, historical, and 
topographical, of the various countries of the globe. Colombia. Vol. viiL Boston 
and Philadelphia, 1830. Pp. 336, three plates, one folding map. 
\j 44. Resa i Colombia, aren 1825 och 1826, af Carl August Gosselman Lieutenant 
vid Kongl. Maj : ts flotta. Stockholm, 1830. Two vols., pp. 274 and 300, two 
plates, one folding map. 

'■-' 45. The companions of Columbus. Washington Irving. 183L 
""' 46. Sur la cause qui produit la goitre dans les cordilleres de la Nouvelle- 
Granada. Boussingault, in Annales de Chimie, vol. 48, 1831, p. 41 et seq. 
- 47. Sur les salines iodiferes des Andes. Boussingault, in same, vol. 54, 1833, p. 
163 et seq. 

48. Comunicaciones entre el Senor Carlos Biddle, Coronel de los E. Unidos del 
Norte I la Sociedad Ainigos del Pais. Panama\ 1836. Pamphlet, pp. 22, and 
one folding profile. 

49. Antiguedades neo-granadinas. Ezequiel Uricoechea. Leipzig, 1837. 

50. Voyages, relations et memoires originaux pour servir a l'histoire de la 
decouverte de 1'Ame'rique. Ternaux-Compans. Paris, 1837—1841. 

- 51. History of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic. W. H. Pres- 
cott. Three vols., portraits, maps, etc. 1838. 

52. Bogotd, in 1836-7, being a narrative of an expedition to the capital of New- 



APPENDIX. 181 

Grenada, and a residence there of eleven months. By J. Steuart. New York, 

1838. One vol., pp. 312. 

--' 53. L'Univers. Histoire et Description de tous les peuples. Colombie et 

Guyanes, par M. C. Fanin. Paris, 1839. Pp. 32, one folding map, and seven 

plates. 

54. Geografia historica, estadistica y local de la provincia de Cartagena. Gen- 
eral Juan Jose Nieto. Cartagena, 1839. 

' 55. Beitriige zur geologie von Antidquia ; and Uber die Salzquellen des nord- 
lichen Theiles der Provinz Antidquia und die Gebirgs-Formationen der Umgebung 
von Medillin im Freistaate von Neu-Granada. C. Degenhardt, in Karsten's 
Archiv. fur mineralogie, xii., 1839, p. 1 et seep 
• y 56. Resumen de la geografia de Venezuela. Augustin Codazzi. Paris, 1841. 

57. Resumen de la historia antigua de Venezuela. Baralt y Diaz. Paris, 
1841. 

• 58. Essai sur l'ancien Cundinamarca. Ternaux-Compans. Paris, 1842. 
' 59. History of the conquest of Mexico. W. H. Prescott. 1843. Three vols., 
three portraits, two maps. 

-~ 60. Vidas de los Espaholes celebres. Manuel Jose de Quintana. Paris, 1845. 
y 61. History of the conquest of Peru. W. H. Prescott. 1847. Two volumes, 
portraits and map. 

/ 62. Compendio histdrico del descubrimiento y colonizacion de la Nueva Granada 
en el siglo decimo sexto. Col. Joaquin Acosta. Paris, 1848. One vol., pp. 460, 
four plates. 

63. Semanario de la Nueva Granada ; miscelanea de ciencias, literatura, artes e 
industria. Francisco Jose de Caldas. Edition of Col. Acosta. Paris, 1849. 

64. Viajos cientificos d, los Andes ecuatoriales. Boussingault. Paris, 1849. 
Pp. 67. 

65. Coleccion de memorias sobres fisica, quimica e historia natural de la Nueva 
Granada y Ecuador, escritas por M. Boussingault, actual presidente de la Academia 
de Ciencias de Paris ; traducidas con anuencia del autor y j)recedidas de algunas 
nociones de geologia. Col. Joaquin Acosta. Paris, 1849. 

- 66. Observations diverses sur les environs de Santa Fe de Bogota. P. A. 

Cornette, in Bulletin de la Socidte geologique de France. Second series, vol. 7, 

1849-50, p. 320. 

-' 67. Memorias para la historia de la Nueva Granada, desde su descubrimiento 

hasta el 20 de Julio de 1810. Col. Jose Antonio de Plaza. Bogota, 1850. 

^ 68. Acosta. Sur les montagnes trachytiques de Ruis, dans la Nouvelle Grenade. 

In Bull, de la Soc. Geol. de France, Paris, 1850-51, pp. 489 to 496 inch, one plate 

of maps, sections, etc. 

69. Same. Sur la Sierra Nevada de Sainte-Marthe, Formde par le terrain 
primitif. In same for 1851-52, pp. 396 to 399 inch, one folding plate of sections. 

70. Extrait de differentes lettres sur la gdologie de la Nouvelle Grenade. P. A. 
Cornette, in same for 1851-52, p. 509. 



182 APPENDIX. 

' 71. Geognostische Bemerkungen liber die nord ktiste Neu-Granada's, insbe- 
sondere iiber die sogenannten vulkane von Turbaco und Zamba. H. Karsten, in 
Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologiscben Gesellscbaft, 1852, p. 579. 

72. Memoria sobre la geografia de la Nueva Granada. Mosquei*a. New York, 
1852. 

73. Memoir on the physical and political geography of New Granada. General T. 
C. de Mosquera. Translated from the Spanish by Theodore Dwight. New York, 
1853. One vol., jDp. 105, one large folding map. (Translation of the preceding.) 

v 74. Peregrinacion de Alpha (M. Ancizar.) por las provincias del norte de la 
Nueva Granada, en 1850 I 51. Bogota^ 1853. One vol., pp. 524, portrait. 
v 75. Resiimen histdrico de los acontecimientos que han tenido lugar en la repub- 
lica, extractado de los diarios y noticias que ha podido obtener el general gefe del 
estado mayor general, T. C. de Mosquera. Bogota", 1855. One vol., pp. 226 + 74. 
"~ 76. Jeografia fisica I politica de las provincias de la Nueva Granada, por la 
Comision Corografica. Provincias del Socorro, Velez, Tunja I Tundama. Bogota, 

1856. One vol., pp. 363. 

^ 77. Ueber die geognostischen Verhaltnisse der Westl. Colombia. Karsten. 
Vienna, 1856. 

78. Physiognomie der Trop. Vegetation Siid Americas. Albert Berg. 1856. 
Folio views of Colombian scenery. 

^79. History of the reign of the emperor Charles the Fifth. Wm. Robertson, W. 
H. Prescott. 1857. Three vols., portrait. 

* v 80. New Granada : Twenty months in the Andes. Isaac F. Holton, M. A. 
New York, 1857. One vol., pp. 605, 33 woodcuts, two colored double-sheet maps. 

81. Positions bestimmungen und Hohenmessungen in Siid Amerika. Von Liais 
und Friesach. Sitzungsberichte der K. K. Akademie der wissenschaften, mathe- 
mat., naturw. No. 19, pp. 285-328, No. 38, pp. 591-632, No. 93, pp. 7-14 ; years 

1857, '59, '60. 

82. Historia de la reyolucion de la Republica de Colombia en la America 
Meridional, por Jose Manuel Restrepo. Besanzon, 1858. Four octavo vols. 
First edition was in 1827. 

- 83. Geografia de la Republica del Ecuador. Manuel Villavicencio. New York, 
1858. 

- 84. Beitrage zur geologie des Westl. Columbien. Karsten. Amtl. Bericht der 
Wiener Naturforscherversammlung. 1858. 

85. The West Indies and the Spanish Main. Anthony Trollope. London, 
1859. One vol., pp. 395, map. (New Granada, pp. 242-255.) 

86. Voyage aux Indes Occidentales. Anthony Trollope, 1858-59. Dessins 
ine'dits par M. A. de Berard. In Tour du Monde, vol. 2, pp. 49 to 64 inch, one 
map, 8 cuts. (From preceding.) 

87. Mapoteca Colombiana. Coleccion de los tftulos de todos los mapas, pianos, 
vistas, etc., relativos a" la America espahola, Brasil e islas adyacentes ; arreglada 



APPENDIX. 183 

cronologicamente y precedida de una introduccion sobre la historia cartografica de 

America. Ezequiel Uricoechea. London. 1860. 
V88. Antiquarian, ethnological, and other researches in New Granada, Equador, 

Peru, and Chile, with observations on the pre-incarial, incarial, and other monuments 

of Peruvian nations ; with plates. William Bollaert. London, 1860. 

- 89. Lieutenant Michler's report of his survey for an inter-oceanic ship canal 

near the Isthmus of Darien. Atrato River survey. Senate Document. Feb., 

1861. 1st vol., pp. 457 ; annotated list of 144 species of birds by Cassin, pp. 220- 

254. 2d vol. contains 17 large folding maps and profiles. 

v> 90. Ensayo sobre las revoluciones politicals y la condicion de las repiiblicas 

Columbianas. Samper. Paris, 1861. 

•- 91. Dr. Moriz Wagner, in Petermann's Mittheilungen for 1861. 

v- 92. Same, in same for 1862. Eine Reise in das Innere der Landenge von San 
Bias und der Cordillere von Chepo in der Provinz Panama, mit besonderer 
Beriicksichtigung der hypsometrischen verhaltnisse und der Kanal frage, pp. 128- 
141, colored map. 

^ 93. Jeografia fisica I politica de los Estados Unidos de Colombia. Felipe Perez. 
Bogota, 1862. Two vols., pp. 13 + 494 and 4 + 650, 8 plates. 

94. Jeografia fisica I politica del Distrito Federal, Capital de los Estados Unidos 
de Colombia. Felipe Perez. Bogota, 1862. One vol., pp. 54. 
^95. Anales de la revolucion de 1861. Felipe Perez. Bogota, 1863. 
96. New Granada ; its internal resources. Powles. London, 1863. 
v 97. Yida del Libertador Simon Bolivar. Felipe Larrazabal. New York 
1865-75. 

v 98. Compendio de geografia de los Estados Unidos de Colombia. Mosquera. 
London, 1866. 

v 99. Autobiografia del General Jose Antonio Paez. New York, 1867. 

100. Historia de la literatura en Nueva Granada. Yergara y Yeroara Bo- 
gota, 1867. 

>/101. Historia eclesiastica y civil de la Nueva Granada. Jose Manuel Groot. 
Bogota, 1868-71. %J , 

102. Relaciones de los Vireyes del Nuevo Reino de Granada. Garcia y Garcia. 
New York, 1869. 

103. Deutsche Konsulatsberichte aus Bogota" im Preussischen Handelsarchiv, 

1870-75. 

104. Informe de los esploradores del Territorio de San Martin. Bogota, 1871. 
One vol.. pp. 4 + 59. 

105. Esploracion entre San Jose* de Cucuta I el Rio Magdalena. Bogota^ 1871. 
One vol.. pp. 18. 

v 106. Alturas tomadas en la Republica de Colombia, en los anos de 1868 y 1869, 
por W. Reiss y A. Stiibel. Quito, 1872. One vol., pp. 39, principally barometric 
heights. 



184 APPENDIX. 

107. Voyage a la Nouvelle Grenade, par M. le Docteur Saffray. 1869. In 
Tour du Monde, vols. 24, 25, and 26, 1872-73, total pp. 160 and 110 cuts, one 
double-page map. 

108. Memorias del General Joaquin Posada Gutierrez. Bogota, 1872-80. 

109. Hohenmessungen in Sud-America. In Zeitsch. der Gesell. fur Erdkunde 
zu Berlin, 1874, pp. 440, 441. 

110. Historia econdmica y estadistica de la Hacienda nacional. Anibal Galindo. 
Bogota, 1874. 

111. Genealogias del nuevo reino de Granada. Juan Florez de Ocariz. Ma- 
drid, 1874. 

112. Compendio de historia patria. Jose" Maria Quijano Otero. Bogota, 
1874. 

113. Biografias militares. Jose" Maria Baraya. Bogota, 1875. 

114. Die Culturlander des alten Amerika. Prof. Bastian. Berlin, 1875-76. 
2 starken banden, pp. 720-1005, 3 maps. 

115. Memorias de un abanderado, 1810-1819. Jose" Maria Espinosa. Bogota, 
1876. 

116. Dr. Reiss and Dr. Stiibel. Hohenmessungen in den Republiken Colombia 
unci Ecuador. Zus. ammengestellt von Prof. Meinicke. XII. Jahresbericht des 
Vereins fiir Erdk. zu Dresden, 1876. 

*S 117. Barometrische Hohenbestimmungen in Columbien von Eduard Steinheil, in 
Petermann's Mitt, for 1876, No. 8, pp. 281-284, colored folding map. 
J 118. Reisen in Columbien von Eduard Steinheil, in Petermann's Mitt., 1876, 
No. 10, pp. 393-395, 1877, No. 4, pp. 184-188, No. 6, pp. 222-227. 

119. Reise durch den Staat-Magdalena in Colombia, 1874. Tetens, in Mitt. 
geogr. gesell., Hambourg, 1876-77, pp. 367-70. 

- 120. My first trip up the Magdalena, and life in the heart of the Andes. J. A. 
Bennett, late U. S. Consul at Bogota, in Journal of the Amer. Geog. Soc. of New 
York, 1877, pp. 126-141. 

121. L'AmeVique equinoxiale : Colombie, Equateur, Pe'rou, par M. Ed. Andre, 
1875-76. In Tour du Monde for 1877, '78, '79, and '83, total pp. 384, 286 cuts, 
16 maps. 

122. L'Amerique du Sud ; voyage dans la Nouvelle Grenade. E. Andre", in 
L'Exploration, 1877, No. 20. 

123. Reisen in nordvestlichen Sad- America. E. Andre, in Globus, 1878. 

124. Anales diplomaticos de Colombia. Pedro Ignacio Cadena. Bogota, 1878. 

125. Recuerdos histdricos 1819-1826. Coronel Manuel Antonio Lopez. Bo- 
gota, 1878. 

126. Reisen in Stid-America, 1868-1877. Reiss and Stiibel, in Petermann's 
Mitt, for 1878, pp. 30-33. 

127. Reiseerlebnisse in Columbien. W. Petersen, in Sitzungsber, naturforscher 
gesell. in Dorpat, 1878, pp. 42-47. 



APPENDIX. 185 

128. Les Chibchas de la Colombie. E. Uricoechea. Congr. intern, de science 
ge'ogr. Paris. 1878, pp. 310-315. 

129. Annotations sur les quinquinas des Etats-Unis de Colombie. D. E. Coro- 
nado. Paris, 1878, pp. 55. 

130. Die Kulturlander des alten Amerika. A. Bastian. Berlin, 1878. 

131. Uber entdeckungen in Sud-Amerika. Bastian, in Verhandl. Ges. f. Erdk. 
Berlin, 1878, pp. 144-147. 

132. Die Zeicben-Felsen Columbiens. Bastian, in Zeits. Ges. f. Erdk. Berlin, 
1878, pp. 1-23. 

^133. Travels in Columbia in 1875-76. Ed. Andre, in Bull, de la Soc. de Gdog. 
de Paris, 1879. 

134. Edelmetall produktion unci werthverhaltnisse zwischen gold urid silber, seit 
der entdeckung Amerika's vis zur gegenwart. Dr. Adolph ^oetbeer, in Peter- 
mann's Mitt. Ergiinzungsheft, No. 57, 1879. (Neu-Granada, pp. 60-64.) 

135. Compendio de bistoria de Hispano- Am erica. Cesar C. Guzman. Paris, 
1879. 

136. Diccionario biogrdfico de los campeones de la libertad de Nueva Granada, 
Venezuela, Ecuador y Peru. Leonidas Scarpetta, Saturnino Vergara. Bogota", 
1879. 

137. Galeria nacional de hombres ilustres o notables. Jose Maria Samper. 
Bogota, 1879. 

v 138. Diccionario Jeografico de los Estados Unidos de Colombia, por Joaquin 
Esguerra Ortiz. Bogota, 1879. One vol., pp. 284. 

^ 139. Notes on the topography of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, U. S. of 
Colombia, by F. A. A. Simons, in P. R. G. S. of London for Nov., 1879, pp. 
689-694, one folding map. 

140. Memorias del General Daniel Florencio O'Leary. Caracas, 1879-81. 
16 vols. 

141. Bosquejo estadistico de la region oriental de Colombia. Joaquin Diaz 
Escobar. 1880. 

142. Historia de Colombia, contada a los Ninos. Jose Joaquin Borda. Zipa- 
qnira, 1880. 

143. Explorations aux Isthmes de Panama et de Darien en 1876-77-78, par 
M. A. Re'clus. In Tour du Monde for 1880, pp. 321-400. 68 cuts, 2 maps. 
^144. Reisen in Antidquia. Frieclerich von Schenck, in Petermann's Mitt, for 
1880, pp. 41-47, large folding map. 

145. Colombia e Peru, l'imperio degli Inca. G. B. Lemoyne. Turin, 1880. 

146. Quelques mots sur la geologie de l'Etat d'Antidquia. Petitbois, in Annal. 
Soc. Gdolog. de Belgique, 1880, pp. 159-163. 

147. Voyage a. la Sierra-Nevada de Sainte-Marthe. Elisde Reclus. Paris, 1881. 
One vol., pp. 6 + 337, 21 cuts, one folding map. The first edition was in 1861. 

148. Los communeros : historia de la insurreccion de 1781= Manuel Briceno. 
Bogota, 1881. 



186 APPENDIX. 

149. La mission cle la Goajira, Nouvelle Grenade. Jannsen, in Les missions 
catholiques, 1881. No. 627. 

v 150. Voyage sur le Rio Magdalena a travers les Andes et sur l'Orenoque. J. 
CreVaux, in Bull. Soc. Gdogr. de Paris, July, 1881, pp. 7-25, with map. 
^151. On the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta and its watershed. (State of Mag- 
dalena, U. S. of Colombia.) F. A. A. Simons, in P. R. G. S. of London for Dec, 
1881, pp. 702-723, one folding map. 

* 152. Uber Francisco de Caldas, den Neu-Granadinischen naturf orscher und 
geographer. A. Schumacher, in Verhandl. d. Gesell. f. Erdk. zu Berlin, 1881. 

153. Voyage cl' exploration a travers la Nouvelle Grenade et le Ve'ne'zuela (Rios 
Magdaldna, de Lesseps ou Guaviare, Orinoco). J. Crevaux et E. Lejanne. 1881. 
In Tour du Monde for 1882, pp. 225-320, 68 cuts, 2 maps. 

154. El Dorado. Illustrated periodical, Liborio Zerda. Bogota, 1882. 

** 155. Les Etats-Unis de Colombie ; precis d'histoire et de geographic physique, 
politique et commerciale, etc., etc., etc. R. S. Pereira. Paris, 1883. One vol., pp. 
8 + 311, 10 double-page maps, one folding. 

156. Geografia general de los Estados Unidos de Colombia. Bogota, 1883. 
Pp. 456. 

157. Voyage a la Nouvelle Grenade. Lejanne, in Bull. Soc. Gdogr. Brest, 
1883. 

158. Ferrocarril de Antidquia : Informe de una comision. Medillin, 1883. 
Pp. 33. 

159. Reiseskizzen aus Columbia. Hettner, in Kblnische Zeitung, 1883. 

7 160. Notes on the central provinces of Colombia. Robert Blake White, in P. R. 
G. S. of London for May, 1883, pp. 249-267, one folding map. 

161. Reisen in Antidquia im jahre 1880 von Fr. von Schenck. 

162. Reisen in Antidquia und im Cauca im jahre 1880 und 1881. Fr. von 
Schenck. 

163. F. v. Schenck's Hohenmessungen in Kolumbien, von Professor K. Zop- 
pritz. 

^164. Hohen. in Antidquia nach White. All in Petermami's Mitt., 1883. Fold- 
ing maps. 

165. Voyages et ddcouvertes de J. Crdvaux. G. Franck. Paris, 1884. Pp.88, 
maps. 

166. Mapa para servir de estudio de la frontera entre Venezuela y Colombia. 
Rivadeneyra. Madrid, 1884. 5 maps. 

167. Die Republik der Vereinigten Staaten von Kolumbien. W. Roth, in Das 
Ausland, 1884. 

168. Spanish and Portuguese South America during the Colonial Period. R. G. 
Watson. London, 1884. Two vols., pp. 620. 

169. Siidamerikanische studien, drie Lebens und Kulturbilder. Mutis, Caldas, 
Codazzi. H. A. Schumacher. Berlin, 1884. Pp. 559. 



APPENDIX. 187 

170. Estudio sobre las minas de oro y plata de Colombia. Vicente Restrepo, in 
An. de la instruccion publica, 1884. 

171. Geograf fa general y compendio historico del Estado de Antidquia en Colom- 
bia. Manuel Uribe Angel. Paris, 1885. One vol., pp. 15 + 783, frontispiece, 
33 cuts of antiquities, two folding maps. 

172. Les anciennes populations de la Colombie. Nadaillac. Paris, 1885. Pp. 13. 

173. Notes etlmograpbiques sur les Etats Unis de la Colombie. W. Boye, in 
Rev. Soc. Geogr. Tours, 1885. 

^ 174. Die Sierra Nevada von Santa Marta. Hettner, in Petermann's Mitt, for 
1885, pp. 92-97. 

175.' i Tbe Sieri'a Nevada of Santa Marta. Sievers, in Proc. Geog. Soc. of Berlin, 
1885. 

176. Die barometrischen hohenmessungen des Herrn Dr. Sievers in Columbia 
und Venezuela. M. Frohberg, in Mitt. Geogr. Ges. Hamburg, 1885-86. 
"177. An exploration of the Goajira Peninsula, U. S. of Colombia. F. A. A. 
Simons, in P. R. G. S. of London for Dec., 1885, pp. 781-796, one folding map. 

178. Reise nach Bogota : Haupstadt der stidamerikanischen Republik Colombia. 
E. Rothlisberger, in Jahresber. d. Geogr. Ges. Bern, 1885-87. 

179. Stati Uniti di Colombia. Segre. Rome, 1886. 

^ 180. Costa Rica y Colombia de 1573 a 1881 : su jurisdiccion y sus limites ter- 
ritoriales. De Peralta. Madrid y Paris, 1886. / 

181. Geologie de l'ancienne Colombie Bolivarienne ; Venezuela, Nouvelle-Gre- 
nade et Ecuador. Karsten. Berlin, 1886. Maps and ppl. 

182. A study of the gold and silver mines of Columbia. V. Restrepo. Trans- 
lated by C. W. Fisher. New York. 1886. 

183. Die wirtschaftlichen verhaltnisse der Vereinigten Staaten von Kolumbien. 
Hettner, in Dtsch. Kolonialzeitung, 1886. 

184. Die Bogotaner. Hettner, in Globus, 1886. 

185. Cartagena y sus cercanfas : guia descriptiva. J. P. Urueta. Cartagena, 
1886. 

186. Die Arhuaco Indianer in der Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Sievers, in 
Zeits. Ges. f. Erdk. Berlin, 1886. 

187. Reise in der Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Sievers, in same, 1886. 

188. TJber ein Skelett und schadel von Goajiros. Virchow, in Ges. f. Anthropol., 
etc. Berlin, 1886. 

189. Historia del Nuevo Reino de Granada. Juan de Castellanos. Madrid, 
1886-87. 

v 190. Historia de Colombia. Carlos Benedetti. Lima, 1887. One vol., pp. 961. 

191. Nouvelle-Grenade : Apercu gdndral sur la Colombie et recits de voyages en 
Amdrique. C. P. Etienne. Geneva, 1887. Pp. 144. 

192. Descripcion histdrica, geogrdfica y polftica de la Repiiblica de Colombia. 
Bogota, 1887. Pp. 23. 



188 APPENDIX. 

193. Compendio cle geografia de la Bepiiblica de Colombia. A. M. D. Leinos. 
Medellin, 1887. 

194. The U. S. of Colombia and the Isthmus of Panama. J. Xantus, in Bull. 
Soc. Hongr. de Geogr., 1887. 

195. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. J. T. Bealby, in Scottish Geogr. 
Mag., 1887. 

196. Beise in der Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Sievers. Leipzig, 1887. Pp. 

10 + 290. 

v 197. The Goajira Peninsula ; trade, etc. E. H. Plumacher, in Beports TJ. S. 

Consuls, 1887. 

198. Ethnogr. stellung cler Guajiro Indianer. A. Ernst, in Zeits. f. Ethnologie, 

1887. 

199. Briefe aus Kolumbien. F. C. Lehman, in Export, 1887. 

•^200. The agricultural condition of Columbia. Wheeler, in Diplom. and Con- 
sular Beports. London, 1887. 

201. Circulaire du ministre des affaires etrangeres sur les mines d'or et d'argent 
de la Bepublique de Colombie, 1887. 

V 202. The capitals of Spanish America. Wm. E. Curtis. New York, 1888. 
(Bogota, pp. 225-257, 18 cuts.) 

203. Beisen in den Columbianischen Anden. Dr. Alfred Hettner. Leipzig, 
1888. One vol., pp. 10 + 389, one folding map. 

^204. Kartographische ergebnisse einer Beise in den Columbianischen Anden. 
Hettner, in Petermann's Mitt, for 1888, pp. 104-112. Large folding map, plan of 
Bogota, etc. 

205. Beitrage zur geologie und petrographie der Kolumbianischen Anden. 
Hettner and Link, in Ztschr. Deutsch. Geol. Gesell., 1888. 

206. Beitrage zur Petrographie der Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta und der 
Sierra de Perija in der Bepublik Colombia in Sudamerika. W. Bergt, in Mineral 
und Petrograph. Mitt, for 1889. 

207. Die Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta und die Sierra de Perija. Dr. W. 
Sievers, in Zeitschr. der Gesell. fur Erdk. zu Berlin, 1888. Pp. 158, maps. 

208. Erlauterungen zur geognostischen Karte der Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. 
Sievers, in same for 1888. Map. 

209. Die Kordillere von Merida nebst Bemerkungen iiber das Karibische Ge- 
birge, mit einer geologischen Karte und 15 profilen. Sievers. Vienna and Olmutz. 
1888. 

210. Der verfall des Staates Magdalena. Sievers, in Globus, 1888. 

211. Die Floresta de la Santa Iglesia Catedral de la ciudad de Santa Marta. 
Sievers, in Globus for 1888. 

212. Goajiro Halbinsel. J. Chaffanjon, in La Geographie for 1888. 

213. Les mines d'or et d'argent de la Colombie. P. de Bruycker, in Bull. Soc. 
E. Ge'ogr. Antwerp, 1888. 



APPENDIX. 189 

214. Le Sinou. Colombie. E. Patronilleau, in Bull. Soc. Ge"ogr. Comin. Bor- 
deaux, 1888. 

215. Atlas geografico e histdrico de la Repiiblica de Colombia. MM. Paz and 
F. Perez. Paris, 1889. 20 maps, plans, views, etc. 

^216. Colombia : its past, present, and future. Reports from tbe Consuls of the 
U. S., 1889, pp. 98-112. 

217. Reiseskizzen aus Kolumbien und Venezuela. Fr. Buchner. Munich, 1889. 

218. Las estatuas del valle de San Augustin en la Repiiblica de Colombia. J. 
Gutierrez de Alba, in Bol. Soc. Geogr. Madrid, 1889. 

219. Die Goajiris Indianer. A. Sartori, in Mitt. Geogr. Gesell. Lubeck, 1889. 
~. 220. Reports and Recommendations of the International American Conference. 
Washington, 1890. (Colombia, pp. 122-127. Maps.) 

"^ 221. Around and About South America ; Twenty months of quest and query. 
Frank Vincent. New York, 1890. (Colombia, pp. 426-463.) 

222. Notas de viaje ; Colombia y Estados Unidos de America. S. Camacho 
Roldan. Bogota, 1890. Pp. 6 + 900. 

223. Avventure di una spedizione alia Colombia, per cura di M. Viglietti. 
Turin, 1890. Pp. 200. 

224. Le miniere della Repiiblica di Colombia. R. Ragnini, in Boll. Soc. Geogr. 
Ital., 1890, pp. 309-332. 

225. La Republique de Colombie. H. Lennon, in Bull. Soc. Geogr., Antwerp, 
1890, pp. 103-122. 

226. Travels and Adventures of an Orchid Hunter : an account of Canoe and 
Camp Life in Colombia, while collecting Orchids in the Northern Andes. Albert 
Millican. London, 1891. One vol., pp. 15 + 222, 73 cuts, one colored plate. 

227. Monumenti preistorici della Colombia ; viaggio di G. M. Gutierrez de Alba 
nella valle di S. Agostino. C. G. Toni, in L'Esplor. commerc, 1891, pp. 1-15. 

228. Telegraphic determination of longitudes in Mexico, Central America, the 
"West Indies, and on the north coast of South America. Norm and Laird. Bureau 
of Navigation, Washington, 1891. 

229. Compagnie franco-beige des chemins de fer colombiens. R. Le Brun. 
Paris, 1891. Pp. 232. 

^230. Colombia. Bulletin No. 33, Bureau of the American Republics. Wash- 
ington, January, 1892. One vol., pp. 138. 22 cuts, one map. 

231. Nueva Geografia de Colombia. T. I. el territorio, el medio y la raya, Ver- 
gara. Bogota, 1892. 

232. Cartes Commerciales. 6me se'rie. No. 10. Colombie et Equateur. F. 
Bianconi and E. Broc. Paris, 1892. Pp. 36, folding map. 

•^ 233. Die Kordillere von Bogota. Hettner, in Petermann's Mitt. Ergangzungs- 
heft. 1892. Pp. 131, large map. 

n/ 234. The Cordillera of Bogota. Review of the above in P. R. G. S. of Lon- 
don for Dec, 1892, pp. 850-854. 



190 APPENDIX. 

235. La Republique de Colombie, ge"ographie, histoire, etc. R. Nunez and H. 
Jalhay. Brussels, 1893. Pp. 259, map. ' 

• 236. Die Anden des Westlichen Columbiens ; eine orographische skizze. Hettner, 
in Petermann's Mitt, for 1893, pp. 129-136. 

237. Reisen in Sudamerika. Geologische studien in der Republik Colombia. 
III. Astronomiscbe ortsbestimmungen, bearbeitet von Bruno Peter. Reiss and 
Sttibel. Berlin, 1893. Pp. 327. 

238. Rio Hacha et les Indiens Goajires. H. Candelier. Paris, 1893. Pp. 277, 
41 cuts. 

' 239. Coal and Petroleum in Colombia. Commercial information bulletin, Bureau 
of the American Republics. Washington, 1893. 
>J 240. EncyckypaBclia Britannica, vol. vi., pp. 137-141. 

There are articles upon Colombia in nearly all encyclopaedias, and many short 
references in magazines and periodicals ; in particular, Das Ausland, Globus, etc., 
and in proceedings of the various geographical societies. 

MAPS. 

1. Atlas de los Estados Unidos de Colombia. Codazzi. 

2. Mapa de la provincia de Antidquia en la republica de Nueva Granada. C S. 
de Greiff. Paris, 1857. 

3. Large wall map of Colombia. Thierry Brothers. Paris, 1864. 

4. Savanilla Harbor, Colombia. 1/36500, No. 925, Washington, 1885. 

5. Cartagena Harbor. 1/36500, No. 978, Washington, 1886. 

6. Colombie. Carte ge'ne'rale des chemins de fer projete's. 1/675000, Paris, 1886. 

7. West Coast, Porto Bello. 1/36500, No. 958, Washington, 1887. 

8. Paricla and Palmque Anchorages. 1/73000, No. 1038. 

9. Port Nuevo. 1/36500, No. 1039. 

10. Bahia Honda. 1/36500, No. 1040, all Washington. 1887. 

11. Map of River Sinu. F. A. A. Simons, London, 1887. 

12. Panama to Cape San Francisco. 1/975000, No. 1176, Washington, 1889. 

13. Colombie. Port et mouillages. Port de Cispata, Port Careto, etc. No. 4633. 
Paris, Serv. Hydrogr., 1892. 

14. Old Providence Island. 1/73000, No. 1372. 

15. Santa Catalina Harbor. 1/18250, No. 1371. 

16. Santa Marta Bay. 1/12150, No. 1378. 

17. Gulf of Darien, Columbia Bay. 1/36500, No. 1405. 

18. Gulf of San Bias, Mandinga Harbor. 1/36500, No. 1406. 

19. Serrana Bank, South Cay Channel. No. 1374. 

20. San Miguel and Darien Harbor. 1/146000, No. 1410. 

21. Chiri Chiri Bay. 1/18250, No. 1407, all Washington, 1893. 



APPENDIX. 191 

COLOMBIAN ZOOLOGY. 

1. The following is a partial list of the more extensive articles on the zoology of 
Colombia. It would require many pages to contain a complete list. Throughout 
the " Revue Zoologique," the " Magasin de Zoologie," the "Ibis," the Proceed- 
ings of the Zoological Society of London, and other similar publications are found 
many references to Colombian fauna. In the first two especially are found many 
descriptions of the discoveries of the naturalists Goudot and Delattre. The litera- 
ture of Colombian humming-birds alone is voluminous : — 

1. Fauna Cundinamarquesa. D. Jorge Tadeo Lozano. Mentioned by Pereira, 
but no date or' locality given. 

2. Notice sur quelques oiseaux de Carthagene, etc. Lafresnaye and D'Orbigny, 
in Rev. Zool., 1838, pp. 164-166. 

3. Nouvelles especes d'oiseaux mouches de Santa F6 de Bogota. Boissonneau, in 
same, 1839, pp. 351-356. 

4. Oiseaux nouveaux ou peu connus de Santa Fe' de Bogota. Boissonneau, in 
same, for 1840, pp. 2-8 and 66-71. 

5. Coleopteres de Colombie, decrits par M. L. Reiche in same for 1842-43, 
total pp. 42. 

6. Description de quelques oiseaux nouveaux de Colombie. Lafresnaye, in same 
for 1842, pp. 301, 302, and 333-336. 

7. Insectes nouveaux observes sur les plateaux des Cordilleres et dans les vallees 
chaudes de la Nouvelle-Grenade. Melieville and Goudot, in same for 1843, pp. 
12-22. 

8. Quelques oiseaux nouveaux ou peu connus de Colombie. Lafresnaye, in same 
far 1843, pp. 68-70 and 290-292. 

9. Description de quelques coleopteres de la Nouvelle-Grenade. Me"neville, in 
same for 1844, pp. 8-19. 

10. Nouvelles especes d'oiseaux de Colombie. Lafresnaye, in same for 1844, 
pp. 80-83. 

11. Coup d'oeil sur l'ornithologie de la Colombie. Lafresnaye, in same for 1845, 
pp. 113-119. 

12. Description de quelques mammiferes Amellcains. Pucheran, in same for 
1845, pp. 335-337. 

13. Sur quelques nouvelles especes d'oiseaux de Colombie. Lafresnaye, in same 
for 1846, pp. 206-209. 

14. Description de quinze especes nouvelles de trochilide'es. Delattre and Bour- 
ciev, in same for 1846, pp. 305-312. 

15. Description de vingt especes d'oiseaux mouches. Bourcier, in Annal. de la 
Soc. Royal d'agricult., etc., de Lyons for 1846. 

16. Sur le ramphocelus icteronotus du Prince Bonaparte. Lafresnaye, in Rev. 
Zool. for 1846, pp. 365-370. 



192 APPENDIX. 

17. Quelques oiseaux nouveaux de Bolivie et de Nouvelle-Grenade. Lafresnaye, 
in same for 1847, pp. 65-79. 

18. Sur l'espece de rhamphocele a plumage variable rapporte de la Nouvelle- 
Grenade, etc. La Fresnaye, in same for 1847, pp. 215-219. 

19. On the birds received in collections from Santa Fe di Bogota. Sclater, in 
P. Z. S. for July, 1855. Pp. 36. 435 species enumerated. This was also published 
as a separate paper. 

20. On some additional species of birds received in collections from Bogota. 
Sclater, in same for 1856, pp. 25-31. 4 colored plates. 

21. Further additions to the list of birds received in collections from Bogota. 
Sclater, in same for 1857, pp. 15-20. 52 species. 

22. Catalogue of birds collected during a survey of a route for a ship canal 
across the Isthmus of Darien, etc. Cassin, in Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. of Phil, for 1860, 
pp. 132-144 and 188-197. 144 species. 

23. Note sur les trochilidees de la Nouvelle Grenade. De Geofroy. Bogota and 
London, 1861. 

24. Catalogue of a collection of birds made in New Grenada, etc. G. N. Law- 
rence, in Annals Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. for 1861, 62, 63. 4 parts, total pp. 67. 

25. Descriptions of six new species of birds from the Isthmus of Panama. Law- 
rence, in the Ibis for 1862, pp. 10-13. 

26. Descriptions of eight new species of birds from the Isthmus of Panama. 
Lawrence, in same for 1863, pp. 181-184. 

27. Notes on a collection of birds from the Isthmus of Panama. Sclater and 
Salvin, in P. Z. S. for 1864, pp. 342-373. One colored pi. 

28. Description of eight new species of birds from Veragua. Salvin, in same 
for 1866, pp. 67-76. Two colored plates. 

29. On some collections of birds from Veragua. Salvin, in same for 1867, pp. 
129-161. Colored plate. 

30. On some collections of birds from Veragua. Salvin, in same for 1870, pp. 
175-219. Map. 

31. Notes on some birds of the United States of Columbia. C. W. Wyatt, in 
same for 1871, pp. 113-131, 319-335, 373-384. Map. 

32. On a collection of birds from the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, Columbia. 
Salvin, in same for 1879, pp. 196-206. 

33. On the birds collected by the late Mr. T. K. Salmon in the state of Antid- 
quia, United States of Colombia. Sclater and Salvin, in P. Z. S. for 1879, pp. 486— 
550. Map and three colored plates. 

34. On the birds of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, Columbia. Salvin and 
Godman, in Ibis for 1880, pp. 114-125, 169-178. 3 plates. 

35. Untersuchungen iiber die Vogel der Umgegend von Bucaramanga in Neu 
Granada. Von Berlepsch, in Journal fur Ornithologie for 1884, pp. 273-320. 

36. On some interesting additions to the avifauna of Bucaramanga, U. S. of 
Colombia. Von Berlepsch, in Ibis for 1886, pp. 53-57. Plate. 



APPENDIX. 193 

WORKS ON CURACAO. 

' 1. See No. 17 in list of works on Colombia. Curacao (Curassou) is in fifth, vol. 
p. 425 et seq. 

/ 2. Description of a new species of humming-bird from the island of Curacao. 
Lawrence, in Annals Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., p. 13. 

3. Eenige West Indischen Kolonien na de emancipatie. Fraissinet. Amsterdam, 
1879. Pp. 43. 

4. Curacao. J. Kuyper, in Tijdschr. aardrijksk. genootsch. 1882. 

* 5. The Aruba and the Papiamento Jargon. Gatchet. American Phil. Soc. 
Philadelphia, 1884. 

^ 6. On a collection of birds made by Messrs. Benedict and Nye, etc., Island of 
Curacao, Venezuela [sic]. Ridgway, in Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum for 1884, pp. 173- 
177. 

7. Die Niederlandische Expedition nach den Westindischen.Inseln und Surinam, 
1884-85. Martin, in Tijd. aard. genoot. Amsterdam, 1885. 

8. Reise nach den Niederlandisch Westindischen Besitzungen. K. Martin, in 
Rev. Colon. Internat. 1885. 

9. Nederl. Westindische Expeclitie. W. F. R. Suringar, in Tijd. NederL aard. 
genoot. Amsterdam, 1886. 

10. Overhet geolog. verband tusschen de Westindische eilanden. Dr. Molengraff, 
in same for 1887. 

11. Geolog. Kaarten van Curacao, Aruba en Bonaire. C. M. Kan, in same for 
1887. Three maps. 

12. Note sur la latitude de Curacao et sur les longitudes de Laguayra, Puerto 
Cabello, Curacao et Sainte Marthe. M. Aubry, in Annales Hydrogr. Paris, 1887. 

13. Bericht iiber eine Reise nach Niederlandisch Westindien und darauf ge- 
griindete Studien I. Land und Leute. Martin. Leiden, 1887. 

14. West-indische Skizzen. Martin. Leiden, 1887. Map, pp. 186. 

15. Beitrage zur Geologie von Niederlandisch Westindien. Martin. Leiden. 
1887-89. 

16. Les possessions neerlandaises dans les Antilles. T. C. L. Wijnmalen. Am- 
sterdam, 1888. 

17. Statistisch overzicht van Ned. West Indie. Same in Bijdr. Stat. Inst. 1888. 

18. Geologische Studien iiber Niederlandische- Westindien. Martin. Leiden, 
1888. 

19. Die Vogel der Insel Curacao nach einer von Herrn Cand. Theol. Ernst 
Peters daselbst angelegten sammlung. Von Berlepsch, in Journ. fiir Ornithol., Jan. 
1892. Pp. 62. 

v 20. Under the Southern Cross : a guide to the sanitariums and other charming 
places in the West Indies and Spanish Main. W. F. Hutchinson. Providence, 1892. 
21. Ernst Hartert. Remarks on some birds from Curacao, in Bull. Brit. Orni- 
thol. Club, Ibis, Jan., 1893. 



194 APPENDIX. 

22. On the birds of the Islands of Aruba, Curasao, and Bonaire. Hartert, in 
Ibis for July, 1893. Pp. 50, map, colored plate. 

23. L'ile de Curacao. G. Verschuur, in Tour du Monde for 1893, pp. 81-96. 
12 cuts, map. 

24. Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. vi. p. 626. 

25. Kaart von het Eiland Curacao, etc. Amsterdam, 1886, 20 by 24 ins. 

26. Santa Ana Harbor. No. 1049, 16 by 19 ins. Washington, 1890. 

27. Spanish Water, Spanish Haven, and Caracas Bay. No. 1245. Washington, 
1891. 



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